83 face fines in gambling raid of nightclub

By TJ Aulds The Daily News Published December 7, 2004 TEXAS CITY — More than 80 people will have to ante up $183 to the city following a Texas Hold ’Em poker raid. Despite the bar owner’s contention he checked the legality of a poker tourney, Texas City police say they have all the chips. Police raided a Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament at the Shenanigan’s Nightclub Sunday. The club’s owner was arrested, and 83 people were issued citations for gambling. Texas City municipal court clerk Carol Grady said her office received several phone calls Monday from people seeking information on the possible fines and what steps to take to challenge the charges in court. Grady said those who received citations would have to pay a $183 fine if they do not challenge the charges in court. All of the citations are class C misdemeanors that would go before the city’s municipal court. It was not the amount Dickinson resident Jack Johnson was expecting to ante up when he sat down to play Sunday. He was one of the people cited. “This is one of those situations where a little bit of communication would have gone a long way in this situation,” said Johnson, who was playing in the club’s regular Sunday afternoon tournament for the third time when police came in. “This is exactly the sort of format I have seen in pool or dart tournaments, so I didn’t think it was that big a deal. “It should be the same thing.” But Texas City police spokesman Sgt. Curtis Pope points to Section 47 of the Texas Penal Code, which notes even the most innocent game of poker becomes illegal when it’s in a public establishment such as Shenanigans. “The (law) is set out pretty clear,” Pope said. “This was a licensed premises open to the public, and no one can question that poker is not gambling.” While Texas law does allow for poker games in one’s individual household under certain conditions — namely that the “house” does not take a cut of the winnings or sets a fee for other services — a game in an establishment such as a nightclub constitutes a gambling place under the law, Pope said. While the law does makes exceptions for entry fees and payouts to take place in games of skill, such as pool or dart tournaments, it does not, according to Section 47.02, do the same for card games. Part 3 of that section notes that, “A person commits an offense if he plays and bets for money or other thing of value at any game played with cards, dice, balls or any other gambling device.” That, said Pope, was the reasoning behind the raid, which followed up a “short-termed investigation” of the game. Club owners said the tournament had been going on for the past five weeks at the nightclub. Because the gambling as defined by the law took place in a public establishment such as a nightclub, the club’s owner, Frank Skaggs — a former mayoral candidate in Texas City — as well as a woman listed as the tournament’s organizer, were arrested for keeping a gambling place under Section 47.04 of the penal code, Pope said. Repeated phone calls to Skaggs’ home, as well as the nightclub, were not returned Tuesday. Police said Skaggs posted the $1,000 bail for the class A misdemeanor and was released. This is not the first run in Skaggs has had with the city over what some consider gambling in his establishments. Last year, the longtime club owner sued the city over what he considered an overbearing ordinance on 8-liners, the electronic devices similar to slot machines that can be found in game rooms across the county. Texas City commissioners had barred such machines from operating in the city limits. Skaggs eventually settled the lawsuit with the city that included a less restrictive ordinance. He eventually opened a large game room next door to his nightclub. Johnson said he doesn’t believe Skaggs or anyone who was playing poker did anything wrong. “If that’s what the law says, then that’s fine, but it should be changed,” he said. “People had no earthly idea what was going on, and we figured that a man like Frank would have covered his tracks. “I just wish the law would make it known what is and isn’t OK because you see this sort of stuff everywhere.”