Hayden Sneed travels more than 120 miles round trip from Plano to play the game he loves. Sneed, 23, said it is a hassle to make the trek across the Red River just for a game of poker. But there may be some good news on the horizon for poker lovers like Sneed.
With the help of State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez and the Poker Gaming Act of 2013, poker players in Texas might finally find Texas Hold ‘Em and other forms of poker legal inside Texas borders. If the legislation passes before the end of regular session on May 27, poker would be legal to play online, in bingo halls or inside of special clubs.
“It would be ultimately convenient because I’m already expending gas and time for a game,” Sneed said. “Over half of the parking lot [at Winstar Casino] in Oklahoma is full of Texas license plates.”
The poker gaming act and online poker acts of 2013 would legalize and regulate poker within certain areas of Texas, while also boosting Texas’ economy by providing upwards of $10 million dollars in extra revenue, according to Nate Walker, Rodriguez’s chief of rtls.
Sneed said that he wouldn’t mind playing in bingo halls around Dallas, even though there would probably be fewer players at the table than in the much larger poker rooms in the casinos in Oklahoma. He said he would still be more apt to attend a game a few miles away versus the 60 it takes to get to a legal table now.
“Even at a $60 buy-in, it’s still much more appealing,” Sneed said. “Around here, I think there’s no way it couldn’t be popular.”
Currently in Texas, games at personal residences are legal, but only if the winnings are distributed among the players, and the house does not take a cut.
This bill would help to regulate illegal games now being played throughout the state, including in homes and warehouses that illegally take a cut. Instead, games would be played in establishments that would be regulated and taxed by the state.
“In Dallas there are warehouses where you need to know a secret knock or password just to get in,” Walker said. “We’ve seen articles in newspapers about robberies and gunfights at these types of meetings.”
Rob Kohler, representative of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is against the legislation. He does not believe Texas should rely on legal gambling to increase its tax revenues.
“The most important thing that people on both sides of the argument agree on is that someone is going to get hurt,” Kohler said. “It’s just a matter of how many that’s disputed.”
Saket Soni, executive director of the New Orleans-based National Guestworker Alliance, points out that existing guest-worker programs tie the foreigners to their employer. “If they complain about working conditions or organize, there is a readymade retaliation button,” Soni said. “Employers can simply terminate a worker and deport their problem because, once they’re fired, those workers are deportable.”
The groups behind the W Visa say the program would be different. They point to a “portability” provision that would allow the foreigners to switch employers. “Portability is, really, the foundation of all labor rights,” said Tamar Jacoby, president and CEO of a pro-business group called ImmigrationWorks USA. “If you want to ask for better wages or better conditions or better anything, your leverage comes from being able to say, ‘I’m leaving.’ ”
But there’s some fine print. The Senate bill, as it stands, would require unemployed W Visa holders to find a job within 60 days. And they could not apply just anywhere. They would have to work for another employer registered in the program.
The search for such an employer could be daunting. Few of the workers would speak English well and know their way around. “Sixty days to find a job these days is pretty challenging,” Soni said, even for workers born and raised in the United States.
For portability to be most meaningful, jobless W Visa holders would have protections against blacklisting, and the registered employers would have incentives to hire unemployed W Visa holders instead of bringing in new foreigners for openings, Soni said. Jobless W Visa holders could also benefit from coordination and support programs.
Supporters of a proposed visa for low-skilled, nonseasonal laborers say it would break the mold for U.S. guest-worker programs. They point out that the visa, part of a sweeping immigration bill that a Senate committee took up Thursday, would allow foreigners to switch employers and would provide a path to citizenship.
But a WBEZ examination of the legislation suggests that the W Visa could, in practice, tether the foreigners to potentially abusive bosses and would not provide any guarantee of a future in the country.
The program, developed in talks between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, would set up a legal mechanism for bringing in as many as 200,000 foreigners a year to worksites ranging from meatpacking plants to nursing homes. Business groups behind the plan say it would help address a “future flow” of workers into positions that Americans don’t want.
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