A Williamson County grand jury has declined to indict the Lodge Card Membership’s three majority house owners on unlawful playing and organised crime costs. The no-bill, returned on April 28, 2026, ends the prison case that started with the March 10 TABC raid on Texas’s largest poker site.
Lodge co-owner and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Doug Polk confirmed the end result on X inside hours. He introduced plans to reopen the Spherical Rock facility inside two to a few weeks, although the logistical problem of rehiring roughly 200 laid-off workers stays.
The choice caps a brutal seven-week ordeal. It included a leaked 22-page search warrant, mass layoffs, and the seizure of greater than $2 million in belongings. Cash laundering, the lead allegation that drove March’s headlines, was quietly deserted by prosecutors earlier than the case ever reached a jury.
Grand Jury Returns No-Invoice on Lodge Card Membership
The grand jury convened to contemplate felony and misdemeanour costs towards three majority shareholders: Doug Polk, Jake Abdalla, and Jason Levin. Brad Owen, Andrew Neeme, Nik Airball, and Ethan “Rampage” Yau weren’t named as targets. All 4 are minority traders.
Below Texas legislation, at the very least 9 of twelve grand jurors should vote to indict. Fewer than 9 did so, leading to a no-bill.
The Lodge despatched a consultant to current arguments underneath Texas’s closed grand jury guidelines. Defence attorneys and media have been excluded from the proceedings.
What the No-Invoice Does and Does Not Settle
The prison menace is over for now, however this isn’t a full dismissal. A no-bill can theoretically be re-presented inside the statute of limitations if new proof surfaces. In observe, that just about by no means occurs after a grand jury has already reviewed the case.
The larger unresolved difficulty is the civil forfeiture. On April 8, in the future earlier than the 30-day statutory deadline, TABC lead agent Douglas Bell filed a nine-page civil asset forfeiture petition within the 480th Judicial District Courtroom of Williamson County.
A no-bill will not be a dismissal. It means the grand jury discovered inadequate proof to indict, however the state can re-present if new proof emerges. The civil forfeiture case is a separate continuing and stays energetic.
That submitting rests solely on alleged violations of Texas Penal Code sections 47.03 and 47.04: retaining a playing place, a Class A misdemeanour. It explicitly omitted cash laundering.
The seized belongings break down as follows: roughly $1.35 million in money taken from the premises, a $435,000 IRS refund cheque discovered through the raid, and roughly $721,000 frozen from Tempus Holding Inc. financial institution accounts.
The Lodge’s authorized staff has 20 days from service to file a Verified Reply contesting the forfeiture. Failure to reply would set off a default judgment.
Lodge Card Membership Plans to Reopen Inside Weeks
Polk’s instant precedence is getting the doorways open once more. He said on X that the goal is 2 to a few weeks from the no-bill date, which might put the reopening in mid-to-late Might 2026.
The principle impediment is staffing. Co-owner Jason Levin laid off all the workforce on March 24, citing a communication from the Williamson County District Lawyer’s workplace that the membership’s enterprise mannequin didn’t adjust to Texas legislation. Roughly 200 workers misplaced their jobs.
The Lodge’s individually included San Antonio location has stayed open all through the shutdown. Polk has cited this as proof that the motion was focused on the Spherical Rock operation particularly, not on the Lodge model as a complete.
How the Case Collapsed From 5 Felonies to a Misdemeanour
The unique March 10 search warrant contemplated 5 costs: organised prison exercise, cash laundering, promotion of playing, retaining a playing place, and possession of a playing gadget. Each felony-level allegation has now been dropped.
The warrant, obtained by media retailers on March 17, alleged $1.35 million in suspicious money deposits routed by way of a set centre throughout January and February 2025. Undercover brokers had performed $1/$2 No-Restrict Maintain’em on the Lodge at the very least six instances between April 2025 and January 2026.
Polk addressed the warrant in his video addressing the April 9 deadline. He framed the cash laundering allegation as round: if the state considers the playing unlawful, each related wire switch turns into cash laundering by definition.
He described the flagged transfers as a participant security measure designed to stop clients from carrying massive quantities of money.
The state’s remaining civil principle argues that the Lodge derived an financial profit from playing by promoting meals, drinks, merchandise, and streaming poker play. That may be a narrower and weaker declare than cash laundering, and the grand jury’s refusal to indict on even the playing cost considerably undermines it.
What This Means for Texas Poker Rooms
No different Texas card room has been raided since March 10. Roughly 80 rooms proceed to function underneath the identical seat-fee mannequin. Probably the most hanging distinction got here on April 23, when Texas Card Home Austin hosted the first-ever WSOP Circuit cease in Texas historical past, an 18-event collection held in the identical Williamson County jurisdiction.
Governor Greg Abbott instructed reporters on March 31 that playing is unconstitutional in Texas and he doesn’t see that altering within the subsequent legislative session. The Texas Legislature meets solely in odd-numbered years, so the following session begins in January 2027.
One further authorized thread stays open. Chicago-based class motion agency Strauss Borrelli PLLC introduced in early April that it’s investigating Tempus Holding Inc. for potential federal WARN Act violations.
Federal legislation requires 60 days’ discover for mass layoffs at employers with 100 or extra staff. No criticism has been filed as of April 29.
The larger image: Texas’s largest, most public, most compliance-focused poker site survived a multi-agency investigation and not using a single prison cost. But it nonetheless spent seven weeks closed, misplaced its total workforce, and had greater than $2 million seized. The seat-fee mannequin held up legally, however the course of itself imposed monumental prices.
What to Watch Subsequent
The civil forfeiture response deadline will decide how rapidly the Lodge recovers its seized belongings. If the state settles or drops the declare, the cash comes again and participant payouts can start instantly.
If the state pushes for trial, the Lodge faces months of civil litigation. The no-bill weakens the state’s place significantly, however civil forfeiture operates underneath a decrease burden of proof than prison proceedings.
For US-based gamers in search of on-line motion whereas the Lodge stays darkish, ACR Poker’s match schedule for US gamers presents a full slate of assured occasions with satellites ranging from $0.01.
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