Something for Texans to do...

[hurlyburly]

Got this from my local Poker group. Gonna call the halls here in my area:

This is slightly off-topic in that it's not a posting for a home
game, but I'm going to claim an exemption under the "poker-related
discussion" guideline.

I was briefed today by some of the leadership of Texans For Poker on
the pending legislative activity involving poker. There are a
handful of gambling bills being discussed in the current
legislature. Some are awful, such as HB 103, which would upgrade
possession of gambling paraphernalia (i.e., a deck of cards), to a
felony. Fortunately it appears this bill will not get out of
committee. Other bills more favorable to poker players have varying
chances of success, and I'd like to focus on one right now.

HB 2715 would amend various sections of the law permitting
charitable bingo games to include poker. The full text of the bill
can be found at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/ (enter HB 2715 in
the search box).

Charitable bingo distributed almost $30 million last year. The
addition of poker could as much as quadruple that amount. Yet, the
bingo halls don't seem to have thrown their full support behind this
bill.

Here's where we step in.

Between now and Friday, I'd like everyone on this board to make at
least one phone call to an area bingo hall and have a chat with
whoever's running the show. (There are dozens of them around; check
the Yellow Pages in print or online.) If they're not aware of this
bill, educate them and let them know what a winning proposition it
is for them, their charities and their swarms of new customers. Then
tell them to call their representative in support of the bill. The
committee member serving this part of the state is Tony Goolsby, and
his contact information is at
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members...2/goolsby.htm.

There are just a few short weeks left in this legislative session,
so the time to act is right now (be sure you emphasize this when you
call). It might not seem like a big deal -- it doesn't exactly
legalize poker the way most of us would want -- but this can be a
very important step for poker to gain a legal foothold and
ultimately achieve that end.

[keats]

Carrying a deck of cards as a felony? I doubt that. I think gambling paraphanelia is referring to a bookie's books or records of transaction.