Texas Card House had quite a day on Wednesday, seeing as the Lone Star State poker brand won a legal battle against the city of Dallas and had a stellar opening night at its new Austin location.
PokerNews reached out to the card room’s CEO, Ryan Crow, who was ecstatic on multiple fronts. The poker club hosted its grand opening at a new location in Austin on Aug. 28, and the large poker club was packed. More than 50 games were running during the evening, and over 150 players were waiting to play.
Texas Card House Social (Austin) is set up for 48 tables, but has the space to squeeze in 65-70, according to Crow. The club’s biggest competitor locally — The Lodge Card Club — is equipped to spread over 70 games at a time and is currently the largest poker room in Texas. But Doug Polk and his team of co-owners recently opened a second location in San Antonio, which will eventually be even bigger.
Good for the Poker Industry
Texas Card House Dallas, the company’s most profitable room, has been fighting a two-year legal battle with the city over its Certificate of Occupancy (COO). Members of the city council initially approved Crow’s business model at a hearing in 2020. But in January 2022, the COO was revoked by the city.
A successful appeal would follow, and then interim city building inspector David Session vowed to sue the Dallas Board of Adjustment for reversing the COO decision. Three days after an ensuing mini trial, District Court judge Eric V. Moye agreed, and the COO was again revoked.
“The Court finds that the Board of Adjustment abused its discretion and made an illegal decision when it reversed the Building Official’s revocation of Certificate of Occupancy number 2003031040, which was issued in violation of state law to ‘Ryan Crow’ DBA ‘Texas Card House,’ the judge wrote in court documents obtained by PokerNews.
The battle with the city continued over the following two years. Crow’s company again filed an appeal in December, and he received an answer on the same day he opened a new location in Austin — his appeal was successful.
“It’s good for the industry,” Crow sad of the court’s ruling while acknowledging that could change..
The Certificate of Occupancy was immediately reinstated. Winning the appeal doesn’t guarantee an end to this legal battle, however. Crow acknowledges that the city could one day decide to file another appeal.
“I don’t think they’ll continue to fight it,” he said.
Crow and his team have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting to remain in business in Dallas.