San Antonio raids put Pokémon card prizes under Texas gambling law

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar says some San Antonio game rooms paid winners in Pokémon or sports cards. At one of the rooms, he said, "You can go next door and sell this to them, and they'll probably give you a couple hundred dollars for it," Salazar told News 4 San Antonio. The Express-News photographed him holding up a Pokémon card outside the room on West Avenue.

Deputies served seven search warrants on Nov. 4 at game rooms on Callaghan Road, Broadway, Wurzbach Road, West Avenue, Clower, Culebra Road and Dollarhide. The sheriff's office says it arrested 13 people and seized about $370,000 in cash. Deputies found about 500 to 600 machines.

Jail records for the 12 people the sheriff's office named show that nine were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. Eight face gambling promotion and six face possession of a gambling device. One faces keeping a gambling place. Three face only drug charges. None of those charges mentions cards. The sheriff's written release doesn't mention cards either.

Texas lets an amusement machine pay out only noncash prizes. Penal Code 47.01(4)(B) caps the wholesale value of what one play can win at 10 times the cost of a play or $5, whichever is less. On camera Salazar cited only the 10-times half. A card a shop would buy for a couple hundred dollars sits far past $5.

Texas has drawn this line before with other prizes. In 2007 the attorney general answered a question from the Bexar County district attorney with opinion GA-0527. It applied a 2003 Texas Supreme Court ruling that gift certificates used as a medium of exchange count as cash. The opinion held that a stored-value card good for merchandise is cash too. By the sheriff's account, a sports card that sold next door for a couple hundred dollars did the same job as money.

Councilwoman Teri Castillo asked the city for a ban on eight-liner machines before the raids. A council committee voted 4-1 on Oct. 21 to delay her request and reconsider it within two months, citing possible state legislation. After the raids Castillo backed a citywide ban. The committee isn't expected to take it up again for about a month.