House says it may be close to approving expanded gambling

This would be as far as they’ve gotten in recent sessions.

Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton, R-Mauriceville, who chairs the Licensing and Administrative Procedures committee, said he is close to having enough votes to pass his ever-morphing gambling bill.

As Hamilton seeks to gather a comfortable number of “aye” votes, he and his committee members have been working to change the bill to make it more palatable for on-the-fence lawmakers who might oppose slot machines at race tracks and full-scale casinos at various places across Texas.

“I think that we have a really good chance right now,” Hamilton said. “We’re really close in the numbers.”

One way to gain support in this revenue-hungry Legislature is to promise to feed the state coffers.

Hamilton said he expects the bill to add about $3 billion of general revenue in the 2012-2013 biennium. The bulk of the money would come from $2.4 billion in licensing fees from groups seeking to slots at race tracks and would-be casino operators.

Hard to know what that means. I guess we’ll find out when and if it gets voted out of committee. Of course, Sen. Robert Duncan says there’s no support for gambling in his committee, so this may all be academic. My expectation is the same as before, that ultimately no action is taken.

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