{"id":5319,"date":"2023-04-25T10:57:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T10:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/?p=5319"},"modified":"2023-04-25T10:57:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T10:57:13","slug":"over-40-poker-players-caught-in-texas-poker-room-raid-get-their-charges-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/over-40-poker-players-caught-in-texas-poker-room-raid-get-their-charges-dropped","title":{"rendered":"Over 40 Poker Players Caught In Texas Poker Room Raid Get Their Charges Dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/04\/police-raid-at-watauga-social-lounge-poker-club.jpg\" alt=\"Police raid at Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club\" title=\"Over 40 Poker Players Caught In Texas Poker Room Raid Get Their Charges Dropped\" width=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/04\/police-raid-at-watauga-social-lounge-poker-club.jpg 380w, https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/04\/police-raid-at-watauga-social-lounge-poker-club-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\"><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A total of 46 poker players in Texas have had their charges and fines dismissed<\/li>\n<li>The case stemmed from a raid on the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club with staff also charged<\/li>\n<li>With the case against them now dropped, players are demanding to have their money back <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After months of waiting, players who were charged and fined following a raid at the <strong>Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club<\/strong> in Watauga, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/top-10-us-poker-sites\/texas\">Texas<\/a> can finally breathe a sigh of relief after a court dismissed the case against them. <\/p>\n<p>The charges and fines were dropped under a motion to dismiss in the interest of justice filed by the Tarrant County District Attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"poker-players-demand-return-of-seized-money\">Poker Players Demand Return of Seized Money<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Daryl Gresham<\/strong>, one of the 46 players who opted to await their day in court after being charged with illegal gambling, shared an image of the court\u2019s decision dated April 18. It\u2019s understood the 45 remaining players also had their charges dismissed, but legal proceedings for three other players who agreed to a plea deal in late 2022 will continue. <\/p>\n<p>While Gresham welcomed the dismissal, he said the fight is not yet over. He is <strong>asking for the $205,000 in cash that was seized<\/strong> during the raid by officials from the Tarrant County Sherriff\u2019s Office (TCSO) to be returned to the players. Gresham said he is still disgusted that authorities in Tarrant County allowed the raid to happen where players were \u201c<em>robbed<\/em>\u201d of their money at gunpoint and with cameras cut.<\/p>\n<p>The Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club launched in January 2022 with approval from local authorities.  Watauga Mayor <strong>Arthur L. Miner<\/strong> even attended the venue\u2019s ribbon-cutting ceremony. However, less than a year after opening, Tarrant County police raided the poker room, accusing it of running an illegal gambling operation. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legitgambling.com\/news\/texas-poker-club-gets-raided-resulting-in-players-being-fined-and-staff-arrests\/\">The raid at the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club, took place in October 2022<\/a> during Day 2 of the $420 buy-in, <em>$100,000 GTD Fall Classic Poker Main Event<\/em>, resulted in charges being filed against poker room staff as well as players present during the raid who were also fined $360 each. Police also confiscated cash, bank bags, gift certificates, credit card receipts and other documents, and other items of value.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%\">\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GICCTaWOtno?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0?ecver=2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"will-the-watauga-case-pave-the-way-for-poker-legalization-in-texas\">Will the Watauga Case Pave the Way for Poker Legalization in Texas? <\/h2>\n<p>Steve Nichols, also one of the affected players, has already accepted the possibility that they may never get their money back, but he\u2019s hoping that Tarrant County also arrives at a similar decision regarding the cases of employees at Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club. <\/p>\n<p>More importantly, Nichols also called for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/top-10-us-poker-sites\/texas\/legal\">legalization of poker in Texas<\/a> so that legal conflicts regarding the operations of poker clubs in the state can finally be avoided. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary: A total of 46 poker players in Texas have had their charges and fines dismissed The case stemmed from a raid on the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club with staff also charged With the case against them now dropped, players are demanding to have their money back After months of waiting, players who were&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1,11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Over 40 Poker Players Caught In Texas Poker Room Raid Get Their Charges Dropped<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After months of waiting, players who were charged and fined following a raid at the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club can finally breathe a sigh of relief ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/over-40-poker-players-caught-in-texas-poker-room-raid-get-their-charges-dropped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Over 40 Poker Players Caught In Texas Poker Room Raid Get Their Charges Dropped\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After months of waiting, players who were charged and fined following a raid at the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club can finally breathe a sigh of relief ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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De la misma manera, colabora con nuestra web en ingl\u00e9s, redactando diferentes noticias relacionadas con el sector del p\u00f3ker para lectores de Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Canad\u00e1 o Australia.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/es\",\"https:\/\/es.linkedin.com\/in\/juanrblanco\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.top10pokersites.net\/news\/author\/juan-blanco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Over 40 Poker Players Caught In Texas Poker Room Raid Get Their Charges Dropped","description":"After months of waiting, players who were charged and fined following a raid at the Watauga Social Lounge Poker Club can finally breathe a sigh of relief 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