The Lodge Card Club raid on March 10, 2026 brought Texas's largest poker room to a standstill. Three TABC units, the IRS, and the Williamson County Sheriff's Office executed a search and seizure warrant at Doug Polk's Round Rock facility over suspected money laundering and illegal gambling. Nobody was arrested.
Lodge co-owner Doug Polk wasn't there when it happened. He initially called the investigation a “witch hunt” before issuing a formal statement on March 16 denying any knowledge of money laundering. The case ended with no charges, and the Lodge reopened on May 26, 2026.
Given the Lodge's scale (roughly 70 tables), its ownership group of well-known poker personalities, its WPT partnership, and its popular livestream, this was comfortably the highest-profile poker room raid the US has seen. Here's how it unfolded, and how it ended.
Update (September 28, 2026): In its April 8 civil forfeiture filing, the state dropped the money laundering allegation, and on April 28 a Williamson County grand jury declined to indict anyone. The Lodge reopened on May 26, and Polk gave up any active role on July 3 while remaining a shareholder. Read what the grand jury no-bill means for Texas poker.
What Happened in the Lodge Card Club Raid
The Raid (March 10)
On Tuesday morning, March 10, 2026, law enforcement arrived at the Lodge Card Club and shut down operations. The timing was brutal: roughly 16 hours earlier, Wayne Harmon had taken down the Lodge Championship Series Main Event for $204,145.
- Agencies involved: three TABC units (Financial Crimes, Special Investigations, and Operations Bureau), the IRS, and the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.
- Scale: approximately 20 TABC agents plus additional officers from the IRS and Williamson County executed a search and seizure warrant at the Round Rock, Texas facility.
- Timing: the raid came roughly 16 hours after the Lodge Championship Series Main Event concluded (won by Wayne Harmon for $204,145).
- Player impact: cash game players were told to take their chips home. Everyone had to show ID before leaving. Tournament players were told they would receive refunds.
No arrests were made and no charges were filed. At the time, the IRS showing up alongside state regulators suggested this went well beyond a routine compliance check.
WPT Event Postponed
A Lodge Wildcard: Wacky Weekend of Poker event scheduled for March 13 to 15 was postponed. It was the second WPT event globally to be pulled from the calendar in March (the first was the WPT Prime Cyprus Championship, cancelled due to the Middle East conflict).
Players looking for WPT action in the meantime can get started on WPT Global, which runs regular online tournament series.
What the Lodge Said
On March 12, the Lodge emailed its members. The gist: their lawyers were working to understand the reasons behind the search, the situation hadn't been explained to them, and they maintained they had been “operating with integrity, using all best practices, and for many years doing business in absolute accordance with Texas law.”
At the time: no legal representative for the Lodge made a public statement beyond this email, and the club's social media accounts went quiet after March 10.
Why TABC Said It Raided the Lodge
On March 12, TABC Director of Communications Chris Porter confirmed the investigation targeted “suspected money laundering and illegal gambling.”
Early speculation on poker Twitter pointed at an expired liquor licence, but that was quickly debunked. The Lodge's parent company, Sleamond's Ice, LLC, held an active Mixed Beverage Permit at the time of the raid. The case had nothing to do with alcohol.
Money laundering and illegal gambling are serious allegations with potential criminal liability. At the time, the IRS presence pointed towards federal financial scrutiny, a different beast from a state alcohol enforcement action. In the end, the state dropped the money laundering allegation in April and no one was charged with anything.
What does “illegal gambling” mean in Texas? Poker isn't explicitly legal in the state. The roughly 68 private poker clubs operating in Texas rely on a contested reading of the Penal Code that provides a “defence to prosecution” rather than clear legality. We break down the full legal picture below.
Doug Polk's Response and the Silence That Followed
The “Witch Hunt” Statement
Polk's first response came on March 11 via X. He said he was “waiting on additional information” and would put out a detailed statement “within the next day.” He called the TABC investigation a witch hunt and personally guaranteed that all player funds would be safe.
Co-owner Brad Owen backed Polk publicly, noting the personal guarantee would likely amount to “somewhere in the seven-figure range.” Owen framed it as evidence of Polk's commitment to the players and staff.
The Polk vs Dwan Exchange
Things got spicy when Tom Dwan weighed in, pointing out that Polk had “made a lot of his brand out of going after people in times like this.”
Polk's response blew up, picking up over 770,000 views. He reminded Dwan of his own alleged tens of millions in unpaid debts and told him to shut up in no uncertain terms.
The irony wasn't lost on anyone. Polk's YouTube career was built on going hard at other people during their worst moments. This time he was on the receiving end, and the poker world was paying attention.
The Wait for a Formal Statement
The detailed statement Polk promised on March 11 did not arrive the next day. It finally came on March 16, six days after the raid, and his first video update on the raid followed on March 31.
In the first week, Andrew Neeme and investors Nik Airball and poker vlogger Ethan “Rampage” Yau made no public comment. Poker pro Wade Townsend was openly critical, claiming Polk's involvement had been the room's downfall.
Who Owns the Lodge Card Club
The Lodge isn't a small-time card room. It's a proper business with several high-profile poker names attached, among them vlog pioneer and co-owner Andrew Neeme.
- Doug Polk, Brad Owen, and Andrew Neeme: purchased a controlling stake in January 2022. Polk ended his active role in July 2026 but remains a shareholder.
- Nik Airball and Ethan 'Rampage' Yau: joined as investors during later expansion.
- Parent company: Sleamond's Ice, LLC, which held an active Mixed Beverage Permit at the time of the raid.
- Scale: approximately 70 tables, a restaurant and bar added in 2024, and a full renovation completed in 2025. Texas's largest poker room by table count.
Polk's interests go beyond the Lodge. He sold Upswing Poker to ClubWPT Gold in 2025 and resigned from the crypto platform CoinFlex after it froze withdrawals. At the time of the raid, the Lodge was his biggest active investment in the poker industry.
The Lodge Had Faced Legal Threats Before
The Lodge ownership group had been in legal crosshairs before. Until March 2026, though, it was always private disputes and community backlash rather than government enforcement.
- 2023: Illinois lawyer Mark Lavery filed civil lawsuits against several Texas poker rooms, including one naming Polk, Owen and Neeme that alleged organised criminal activity at the Lodge. It was a private claim, not a government action.
- 2022: Polk faced community backlash over a 17% effective rake in a Lodge tournament series.
- March 2026: the first time a government agency took direct enforcement action against the Lodge.
The gap between the two cases is worth noting. The 2023 case was a private civil claim from a single attorney. The 2026 raid involved multiple agencies and a search warrant signed off by a judge.
Why Texas Poker Rooms Operate in a Legal Grey Area
To understand why this raid matters, you need to understand the legal tightrope every Texas poker room walks.
Chapter 47 of the Texas Penal Code makes gambling illegal but provides a “defence to prosecution” if three conditions are met: the gambling happens in a private place, nobody receives economic benefit beyond personal winnings, and the risks of losing and chances of winning are equal for all participants.
Texas poker rooms work around this by charging membership fees (typically $5 to $15 per day) and hourly seat fees ($10 to $15 per hour) instead of raking pots directly. The argument: the house isn't profiting from the gambling, only from providing the venue and service.
Whether that argument holds depends entirely on which county's DA you ask. Roughly 68 private poker clubs operate under this model across Texas right now. Previous enforcement actions have gone both ways.
- Houston, May 2019: Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club raided. Nine people arrested. $10 million in bank accounts frozen. All charges were later dropped after it emerged that a financial crime consultant hired by the DA's office had simultaneously been working with the poker clubs. Player funds were returned.
- Watauga (near Dallas), 2022: Watauga Social Lounge raided mid-tournament. Players reported being held at gunpoint by officers. The owner forfeited $170,030 in a plea deal. The room never reopened.
- Texas Card House Dallas, 2022 to 2025: fought a three-year legal battle over its operating permit. The Texas Supreme Court declined to hear the city's appeal in September 2025. The room survived.
- The Lodge, March 2026: the first time the state's largest poker room, with celebrity ownership and a WPT partnership, was targeted by law enforcement. No one was charged and the room reopened on May 26, 2026.
The track record is a coin flip: some rooms survive (Houston, Texas Card House) and others are gone for good (Watauga). The Lodge was the biggest test of that model yet, given the room's size, its national profile, and the specific allegations attached. It survived, reopening 11 weeks after the raid without a single charge filed.
On the legislative front, nothing is moving. In the 2025 Texas session, two competing bills were introduced: HB 2996 (pro-poker, by Rep. Ryan Guillen) and HB 2154 (anti-poker, by Rep. Matt Shaheen). Both died without advancing. The Texas legislature only meets every two years in odd-numbered years, so the next session doesn't start until January 2027.
What Happened Next
Here is how the open questions from March were answered.
- Polk's statement: it came on March 16, six days after the raid. Polk denied any knowledge of money laundering and said he would cooperate with law enforcement.
- Closure and layoffs: on March 24, the Lodge laid off its staff and closed for the foreseeable future.
- Money laundering allegation: dropped. In its April 8 civil forfeiture filing, the state said it was no longer pursuing money laundering and would focus on the illegal gambling allegation. Over $2 million in seized assets stayed frozen.
- Formal charges: none. On April 28, 2026, a Williamson County grand jury declined to indict anyone.
- Lodge reopening: the room reopened on May 26, 2026, 11 weeks after the raid.
- Polk's role: on July 3, 2026, Polk said he would stay a shareholder but no longer have any active role at the Lodge.
- 2027 legislative session: the Texas legislature meets in odd years, and the next session starts in January 2027. The raid is likely to feature in any debate over poker room regulation.
Our later reports cover each step in detail. Start with the search warrant details and the asset freeze, then the closure and staff layoffs, the April 9 forfeiture deadline and the civil forfeiture filing.
What about player funds? While the Lodge's accounts were frozen, Polk personally guaranteed player balances and said he would cover any shortfall himself. After the grand jury decision, he said the seized money and equipment would be returned. If you still have an unresolved balance from before the raid, contact the club directly.
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