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A pair of Houston card rooms were raided by local law enforcement Wednesday afternoon and more crackdowns of these establishments might be on the way.

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Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club were raided by officers from the Vice Division of the Houston Police Department. In total, nine owners and managers were arrested on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity.

The Prime Social cardroom in Houston is one of the first poker clubs to reopen in the United States. While many casinos and poker rooms across America are planning how to safely reopen amid Coronavirus restrictions, one club has already taken the leap. Specialties: Prime Social is a premier members only entertainment destination. Our social club houses an upscale lounge, fully stocked bar, gourmet dining, and dozens of poker tables throughout the venue. Prime Social is a safe.

“Poker rooms are illegal in Texas,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. “We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators.”

• Prime Social - 7801 Westheimer Rd, Houston, Texas 77063 - Rated 4.6 based on 39 Reviews 'If you looking for the nicest poker room with the most action. Houston's Premier Social Poker Club. Prime Social Club is a premier members only entertainment destination.
• On Wednesday afternoon, Prime Social Poker Club was raided by law enforcement officials of the city of Houston.

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Officers seized computers and hard drives in the raid. At Prime Social Club, the raid took place just a few minutes before the start of a $580 no-limit hold’em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told local media that this is just the start of a larger crackdown on poker rooms in Houston.

“We’re not going to tolerate it,” Acevedo told the local ABC News affiliate. “We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it. Otherwise, we’re going to do our jobs and shut them down.”

Law enforcement clearly believes these clubs are breaking the state’s gambling laws. The operators, on the other hand, believe that they are in full compliance with state law since they don’t collect a rake. The card rooms only charge membership fees and consider themselves a private club.

“We’re just facilitating the play between the players,” said Daniel Kebort, one of the five owners of the Post Oak Poker Club that were arrested yesterday.

Wayne Dolcefino, who worked for Prime Social Club both in researching the law before the club opened its doors and in promoting certain events, said that the idea that they are hiding a criminal operation is laughable.

“In my view, a business trying to cover their tracks wouldn’t be in a giant building on Westheimer,” said Dolcefino.

While no players were arrested, both clubs had their bank accounts and assets frozen. According to an October 2018 article from the San Antonio Express, there are “about 40” of these poker clubs operating throughout the state.

The Prime Social poker room in Houston has reopened even as Texas confirm 1,100 total deaths from COVID-19 and are getting hit with around a thousand new active cases daily.

Given the US’s shoddy testing systems these numbers are the tip of the iceberg, and it will only get worse as businesses like this flout social distancing guidelines in order to turn a profit in the hospitality and leisure sector.

The club has already been accused of money-laundering in a recent scandal. Although, the charges were dropped when the waters were muddied by various conflicts of interest.

The club are instituting a temperature check on entry, six-max seating arrangements, and enforcing mask wearing for all players.

This is security theatre by the cynical for the gullible.

Temperature checks do not help, as symptomless carriers can spread COVID-19, six max still does not respect the two metre rule, and masks are only partially effective at preventing spread – they will help in a short interaction at the supermarket, but won’t do much for sitting for hours across a small table from someone who will be touching your cards and chips for hours.

The club’s guidelines also reassure punters the club will be closed from 5 AM to 10 AM “for sanitation”. While the sacrifice of those key hours of high volume breakfast gambling is commendable, this only makes one wonder if that means they will be doing no cleanup during opening hours when it might make a difference to the spread of the virus.

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Prime Poker Club Houston Tx

Poker rooms should be the last places opening up after this pandemic. Prime Social has taken it upon themselves to be the first.