After reading the comments posted by Delegates Wrenn and Taylor, and having been involved with the whole Texas Holdem debate since day one, I wanted to respond and set the record straight about how we have gotten to where we are today. As referenced in their comments, SB936, a bill allowing charities to host Texas Hold’em poker tournaments was enacted during the 2020 session of the General Assembly. The following July the job of writing the rules and regulations regarding the play of Texas Holdem tournaments began. I attended and participated in the 3 day work session where those rules were to be written and then submitted to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the state agency that oversees charitable gaming, for approval. It was the very first day that it became apparent that Chairman Lessin and other members of his cabal weren't interested in tournaments but instead wanted to run cash games instead.
     After 30+ years of playing in casino tournaments and also running over 500 free Texas Hold’em tournaments from 2005 thru 2015, and using the same rules as in the casinos, it quickly became apparent they were attempting to rewrite the rules for tournament play in a way that was contrary to what our legislators had been led to believe. When asked at one point why they hadn’t just asked for cash games, chairman Lessin replied that they knew that they could never have gotten a bill passed asking for cash games so they decided to ask for tournaments, and then write tournament regulations that would allow them to play cash games instead. At this point it is important to remember that this piece of legislation was written by chairman Lessin and others in his inner circle and that Lessin had the most to gain financially than anyone else if he could bring his plan to fruition. His plan was to use Pop’s Bingo to host a commercial card room. VDACS immediately rejected his attempt to corrupt SB936 and refused to approve the regs the board had submitted. The Attorney General’s office also weighed in and agreed the regs did not reflect what was allowed in SB936..This set off a year long series of attempts by Lessin, whereas he refused to submit legitimate tournament regs. These attempts were shot down by VDACS and the Attorney General and eventually reached the point where he sued his own regulatory agency, VDACS, claiming they were unfairly standing in his way. He lost. It was at that time our legislators took notice of all this skullduggery and created a Senate Sub-Committee to Investigate Charitable Gaming. In addition the Office of the State Inspector General opened their own independent investigation into the Texas Hold’em debacle and other questionable goings on regarding the Charitable Gaming Industry.      
     It was about that time that chairman Lessin hired Senator Chap Peterson, the original patron of the bill, to again file suit against VDACS. Peterson knew full well what was allowed in 936 as it was his  bill and specifically mentioned tournaments 14 times and never once mentioned cash games. He lost that suit also. Still believing that he could manipulate the original bill to his own liking Lessin then sued  VDACS once again and lost
During the 2022 session of the General Assembly the legislature finally had enough of this foolishness and reduced the Charitable Gaming Board from a regulatory board to an advisory board, meaning they no longer would be able to write and submit any further regs. That now became the responsibility of VDACS. Because of pending litigation and Lessin’s attempts to introduce bills in the General Assembly to change the intent of the original bill, both of which were shot down, VDACS was unable to begin writing legitimate regs until the smoke cleared. Then, during the 2023 General Assembly session Chairman Lessin was discovered to be funding a special interest group that he had started, and that he was writing the checks for two lobbyists who were attempting to convince legislators to give him what he wanted. It is highly unusual and even unethical for the Chairman of any board or commission to engage in such an action, and when it was reported by the press in Virginia Mercury, chairman Lessin resigned before 10 o’clock the same day.
     In the comments posted by Delegates Williams and Taylor, comments that I doubt were even written by them, they seek to name a number of individuals and organizations as scapegoats for their failure to successfully corrupt SB936 and redefine it in a way it would benefit the chairman personally and financially. This includes VDACS, the Attorney General’s office.legislators, and Agriculture Secretary Guthrie. None of this could be further from the truth. The responsibility for this whole mess rests squarely on the shoulders of former chairman Lessin. In Delegates Williams and Taylors letter it complains that they have been waiting “for years” for VDACS to write regs so play could begin. Not true. If former chairman Lessin and the board had written the proper regs for 936, tournament play could have commenced as early as late 2020. In the meantime because of his actions, hundreds of charities all over Virginia, Moose Lodges, the Elks, VFWs and other organizations that could have benefitted from having occasional fundraising poker tournaments have been unable to do so because of the actions of the former chairman and others that instead wanted to create commercial card rooms for their own benefit.

     As of today the entire Charitable Gaming Board has been replaced by the Governor and it has a new chairman. In addition, the new bona fide Texas Hold’em regs will be officially adopted very soon and play will be able to commence as originally enacted by the General Assembly.
     I am also a poker enthusiast and have played most of my life but my love of poker does not supersede my commitment to see that our laws are implemented in a manner consistent with what our legislature allows, and defend them against those who would seek to do otherwise.

Tad Berman