{"id":211054,"date":"2025-09-08T20:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/211054\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T20:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:45:14","slug":"dallas-poker-houses-can-stay-open-after-texas-supreme-court-refuses-to-review-city-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/211054\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas poker houses can stay open after Texas Supreme Court refuses to review city appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas Supreme Court says it won\u2019t review a 2024 appeals court decision that blocks Dallas from revoking the operating credentials of poker club Texas Card House<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The decision could end a legal battle in which the city essentially sued itself to undo its approval of poker businesses in Dallas<\/a>, which city officials now argue violates Texas\u2019 ban on gambling.<\/p>\n

The state Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request from former chief building official Andrew Espinoza to review the case, which stems from a March 2022 decision by the city\u2019s board of adjustment. The board, made up of City Council volunteer appointees who hear challenges to city development code decisions, ruled that Texas Card House should keep its certificate of occupancy.<\/p>\n

Espinoza, who left his role as Dallas\u2019 head of city building inspections and permitting in 2024<\/a>, sued both the business and the board<\/a> to overturn the decision. In November 2022, a Dallas County district judge ruled in the city\u2019s favor<\/a>, calling the board\u2019s decision illegal. Texas Card House appealed, arguing that city officials gave in to lobbying pressure and reversed their stance on the poker club without any change in state law or the business\u2019 operations. <\/p>\n

Political Points<\/p>\n

Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Champions<\/p>\n

The Appeals Court later ruled the district judge shoud have deferred to the board of adjustment\u2019s original decision.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Texas Card House and Espinoza did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment on the state Supreme Court\u2019s decision or potential next steps. The Texas Supreme Court is the state\u2019s highest civil appellate court.<\/p>\n

Dallas taxpayers footed the bill for legal fees from two lawsuits aimed at closing down poker clubs the city had previously approved. The City Council has authorized at least $550,000 to cover legal representation for Espinoza and the board of adjustment<\/a>, which also overturned the city\u2019s 2022 decision to revoke Shuffle 214\u2019s certificate of occupancy. Both Texas Card House and Shuffle 214 have their own legal teams.<\/p>\n

While Texas law bans gambling, it makes an exception for private games where no one profits except through personal winnings, and all players have an equal chance \u2014 aside from skill or luck. That gray area allows poker businesses to operate in cities around Texas, like Austin and Houston.<\/p>\n

Dallas officials initially allowed at least three poker clubs to operate starting in 2020. But after public pushback when a poker club tried to open in Far North Dallas<\/a>, the city reversed course in 2021 and now considers them illegal.<\/p>\n

Texas Card House and Shuffle 214 challenged the revocation of their certificate of occupancy before the board of adjustment. A third club, Poker House Dallas, closed in June 2023<\/a> after a judge granted the city\u2019s request to shut it down for lacking a valid permit. Though the Far North Dallas business, Champions Social Club, has opened, that group\u2019s owners are appealing to the city\u2019s board of adjustment to allow them to host poker.<\/p>\n

In the case review request to the state Supreme Court, Espinoza\u2019s attorneys argued that neither the city nor the board can authorize illegal activity, and that the appeals court mistakenly allowed the Board of Adjustment to misinterpret Texas\u2019 gambling laws. <\/p>\n

But Texas Card House\u2019s attorneys argued the Supreme Court shouldn\u2019t intervene because the city initially approved the business, the revocation was politically motivated and the board found no legal violations to justify revoking their certificate of occupancy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Supreme Court says it won\u2019t review a 2024 appeals court decision that blocks Dallas from revoking…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":211055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14840,14841,80,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-211054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-city-council","11":"tag-dallas-city-hall","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115170634848518167","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}