Mexico Offers Charity Poker Escape

Last year Texas bikers, poker players and charity workers all received bad news when the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott stated that poker runs, which involved bikers riding and collecting poker cards to raise money for charities, where effectively illegal. He pointed out that poker is a game of chance, which is illegal gambling in the state’s penal code, and that no one should profit from it, not even a charity. In response, some charitable organizations are seeking new venues to hold their poker related fund raising events, even crossing the border south into Juarez to do it.The Vista Hills Rotary Club decided to have a poker tournament in Juarez; they expect some 300 El Paso poker players will take the bus from the El Paso convention center, for $125, to the Maria Bonita Hotel in Juarez to play for a $5,000 American Express gift card.