Illegal Game Room Raids In Houston Signal Bigger Problem At State Level

Just a month or so ago, federal authorities made a huge illegal gambling room bust right here in Houston. In what they called one of the largest gambling schemes in Texas history, Operation Double Down seized $22 million, and slapped 16 people with felony charges that include money laundering and conspiracy. All told, 30 illegal game rooms were raided across the city, but there was something concerning amid the crackdown.

They discovered one-third, or about ten of the game rooms, has been raided before that. Yet, they were still in operation, still committing egregious crimes. These rooms too had been on law enforcement radar for at least a decade. It has become a much more prevalent problem in recent years, and it is hard to believe it would be allowed to just continue unchecked.

But there is a connection that goes deeper than just people looking to make some quick money. The problem seeps all the way to the roots of Austin.

Les Bernal, National Director of Stop Predatory Gambling, says this spike in illegal game rooms is directly tied to the Texas lottery.

"When government gets into the gambling business, law enforcement begins to see illegal gambling less as an issue for criminality, and more as a revenue issue," he says. "They begin to take it less seriously."

The lottery in Texas began in 1991, and for the most part, has been without huge issues. But more problems have popped up recently. The lottery commission is under investigation by the Texas Rangers now for couriers selling tickets, and a scheme which lottery people bought all the winning tickets, making millions of dollars.

In turn, the state getting behind the gambling of the Texas lottery has opened up a sense of normalization for illegal gambling in Texas. Now that the door has opened, it is hard to close it.

"It underscores how much the Texas lottery has been an epic public policy failure. It is spilling over now into illegal gambling, but gambling has been normalized thanks to the lottery, so the cycle continues," says Bernal. "If you want to stop illegal gambling in Houston, it starts with going after the Texas lottery."

The lottery has also become somewhat predatory itself. They sell $100 scratch off tickets specifically in low-income areas, preying upon people who do not have $100 in disposable income. Yet, they buy it, because gambling is addictive.

So, to stop the problem of both illegal gambling rooms, and predatory practices, it boils down to one simple thing. That is holding the lottery accountable.

"You start going after the predatory forms of gambling the Texas lottery sponsors, you start to de-normalize these other forms of illegal gambling we have seen pop up," Bernal says.

Bernal adds that Texans need to speak up about the lottery. Because the sooner the state gets out of the gambling businesses, the sooner these pop-up illegal gambling rooms stop.