It’s probably too little too late, but you never know.
A Texas House committee surprised the casino lobby Friday night when it voted out legislation that would allow video lottery terminals — slot machines — at state racetracks and Indian reservations. The casinos were left behind.
Casino interests wanted any legislation approved by the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee to also allow destination casinos in major cities and on the state’s barrier islands.
Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton, R-Mauriceville, said he still doesn’t have the 100 votes required in the House to advance the constitutional amendment his committee approved.
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The bill approved by the committee includes a constitutional amendment and the legislation putting it into effect if it passes. Those bills, by Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, would allow VLTs at dog and horse tracks and on reservations and would raise $548.2 million for the next budget.
The legislation in question is HJR111 and HB2111. I still don’t see any evidence that the Senate is willing or able to pass similar legislation, and without assurance of at least a vote in the Senate it’s not clear that enough House members will commit to voting for it. So as always, I don’t really expect anything to happen. Click over to the link to see statements from the casinos (short version: boo!) and the racetracks (short version: yay!) about this development.