Benefits of Using PPH Software, Texas Poker Rooms Under the Microscope Again

The primary benefits of using a pay per head software platform include cost savings and reduced time consumption. 

AcePerHead's latest promo really caught our attention in regard to the cost savings.  They are currently offering one FREE week per month.  The rate they charge per player (customer) is as low as $3.  Pretty sick!

The PPH features that help you as a bookie or agent save time and headaches include 24/7 customer support, both online and via the phone.  No more waking up in the middle of the night to answer a losing customer's sad phone calls.

The PPH bookie software also includes customized web templates and a domain name that only applies to your business, fully staffed oddsmakers who keep up to date with action and the latest news, and the ability to offer live in-play wagering.  Oh, did we mention the live dealer casino?  Yes, you can be your own Bellagio.

Looking for more information?

Check out the video below.

Texas Poker Rooms Hit by Civil Lawsuits Alleging ‘Organized Crime’

If you are a regular reader of Gambling911.com, you'll be somewhat familiar with the Texas poker room scene.  These businesses are popular enough to attract players the world over and seedy enough to appeal to a criminal element as well.

This month we learned that a number of West Texas poker rooms are the subject of lawsuits accusing them of being a “public nuisance” and committing “organized criminal activity.”

The plaintiff is one Mark Lavery, a Chicago attorney with a history of litigating against legally gray gambling operations.  And they don't get much greyer than card rooms in Texas.

These clubs get around the law - or try to at least - by charging a membership and claim to be running a private club.  Players also have to rent their seats for an additional $10 to $15 per hour. Because they do not take a rake, club owners believe the establishments are legal.

Noted gaming attorney I. Nelson Rose doesn't believe it is that simple. 

Last year, he told Gambling911: Perhaps someone should have reminded everyone involved that Texas has a lot of anti-gambling laws.  They include the crimes of “Gambling,” “Gambling Promotion,” and “Keeping a Gambling Place.”

Rose quipped: "I don’t know the name of the lawyer who dreamed up the idea of playing poker as a private social club.  But I would love to see his or her Legal Opinion." 

Some of the card rooms we have profiled at Gambling911.com received approval to operate by local officials only to have that approval rescinded.

Lavery's lawsuit claims “unregulated gambling like this public nuisance results in the harm of people with gambling disorder filing bankruptcy, breaking up marriages, and even committing suicide.

“The public nuisance also harms loved ones, like Plaintiff, who are survivors of suicide by loved ones or are harmed by dealing with financial problems of loved ones exploited by criminal gambling like this one."

Lavery's own wife committed suicide due to her gambling addiction back in 2008.

Officials in San Antonio and Dallas have been trying to shut down these establishments, with little luck.  Lavery's lawsuit only adds to the headaches of these operators.

In 2015, Lavery filed a complaint claiming that daily fantasy sports sites violated state law, specifically Illinois.  Some states, like New York at the time, actually agreed with that sentiment,

Illinois's own criminal code left an opening for Lavery to pursue his lawsuit.

Subsection 28-1(a) of the Illinois criminal code deems it to be illegal gambling when one "knowingly plays a game of chance or skill for money or other things of value."  This language, in a vacuum, seems to make "daily fantasy sports" contests clearly illegal.  However, this language is then followed by subsection 28-1(b)(2), which includes an exception for "bona fide contest for the determination of skill, speed, strength or endurance or to the owners of animals or vehicles entered in such contest."

Lavery was at it again last year, this time going after a relatively new DFS site, PrizePicks.  He claimed the site was acting as a sportsbook.

- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com