Appeals court rules against Dallas decision to shut down poker club

An appeals court said a Dallas poker club should be allowed to stay open after city officials revoked its operating certificate, citing the state’s ban on gambling.
The 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas sided Tuesday with a March 2022 decision by the city’s board of adjustment — a volunteer board made up of City Council appointees — to allow Texas Card House to keep its certificate of occupancy.
Dallas’ then-building official Andrew Espinoza sued the business and the board to reverse the call, leading a district judge in November 2022 to uphold the city’s revocation of the certificate, saying the board “made an illegal decision.” Texas Card House appealed to the higher court, arguing city officials caved to lobbying and simply changed their minds about allowing the poker club despite nothing changing in the law or the business’ practices to trigger the reversal.
The appeals court said District Judge Eric Moyé was wrong in his 2022 ruling to not “afford the required deference” to the previous decision made by the Board of Adjustment, which hears challenges of city development code decisions.
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“The court must not substitute its discretion for the BOA’s, even if the court concludes the overwhelming preponderance of evidence is against the BOA’s decision,” the appeals court ruling said. “If reasonable minds could have reached the conclusion the BOA must have reached to justify its action, the trial court must uphold the BOA’s order.”
Attorneys representing Texas Card House and the city didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment on the appeals court ruling.
Taxpayers have been on the hook for covering the legal costs stemming from two separate lawsuits seeking to shut down previously city-sanctioned poker businesses. The City Council approved Dallas spending at least $550,000 in representation for the building official and the Board of Adjustment, which also reversed Dallas’ decision in 2022 to revoke Shuffle 214′s certificate of occupancy.
Texas Card House and Shuffle 214 have their own legal representation.
Although gambling is illegal in Texas, the law allows the games to occur in a private place if no person receives any economic benefit other than personal winnings and all players have an equal shot at winning except for the advantage of individual skill or luck.
City officials allowed at least three poker businesses to operate in Dallas as of 2020 but changed their stance a year later amid public pressure. The city now says they’re illegal. Then-city attorney Chris Caso told City Council members during a 2019 public meeting that the businesses were legal.
Texas Card House entered a lease for its site in northwest Dallas near Farmers Branch in December 2019 and received its city-issued certification in October 2020.
But after backlash in summer 2021 from some Far North Dallas residents who opposed plans for another poker business near their neighborhood, city attorneys and building officials said they again reviewed the state’s law on gambling and determined they improperly allowed poker businesses to operate because they misinterpreted the law.
Texas Card House and Shuffle 214 appealed the revocations of their certificates of occupancy to the Board of Adjustment. A third business, Poker House Dallas, closed in June 2023 after a judge approved the city’s request to shut it down because it didn’t have a proper permit.
Dallas is considering updating its development code to offer a path for poker businesses to operate regardless of what the state law says. The proposal would allow private clubs that offer games of skill, such as ax throwing, darts, shuffleboard or poker, to obtain a specific use permit to operate.
A subgroup of the City Plan Commission unanimously voted against the proposal in March.
The full Plan Commission voted to delay a decision on the code amendment on Aug. 8 until the legal disputes concluded.