This should not come as a surprise to anyone.
It’s a sure bet that when Texas lawmakers convene every two years, legislation will be proposed to expand gaming in the state.
This year, there are nearly a dozen pieces of legislation covering casino games, slot machines and eight-liners. And just like each time before, the bills face long odds of passing.
Prospects are so dim that the Texas Gaming Association isn’t bothering to actively support a bill drafted on its behalf, as it has done in each of the approximately 10 previous legislative sessions, Chairman Jack Pratt said. The association represents casino-resorts operator Las Vegas Sands Corp.
“We have nothing going on because we know that there is no possibility of getting anything passed in the Legislature (the way) it’s structured there currently,” Pratt said. “We just didn’t want to waste our time nor our money.”
Pratt was referring to the makeup of the Texas Legislature. After last fall’s elections, Republicans continue to outnumber Democrats by about 2-1. But the majority is viewed as the most conservative in recent memory. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also has come out against expanded gaming.
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The Texas Gaming Association has endorsed casinos at large destination-resort properties that would cost $2 billion to $3 billion each to construct, Pratt said. It does not favor adding slots as a way to rescue struggling racetracks, including Retama Park in Selma.
“There’s no reason for us to bail them out,” Pratt said. “They’ve just got a poor business plan. They ought to bury it and go on.”
Andrea Young, president of Sam Houston Race Park, disagreed. Texas racetracks have been competing on an “unlevel playing field” with Louisiana and Oklahoma racetracks that allocate gaming money to purses — the money awarded to the highest finishers. The purses at those tracks are higher than those in Texas, and thus can attract better horses. Sam Houston is partly owned by racetrack and gaming giant Penn National Gaming Inc.
While Young conceded there’s not much momentum for gaming legislation, she said that hasn’t stopped Sam Houston Race Park from backing legislation. “Doing nothing is not really an option for us,” she said.
You can see in the paragraphs above one reason why gambling expansion never came close to passing in previous sessions when the conditions might have been more favorable. This session, I heard basically nothing from the usual suspects of gambling expansion. Not surprising, given tax cut mania and the other priorities expressed by the new gang, but different. As Pratt says elsewhere in the piece, you can expect these guys to be back again some day. Their economic argument, whatever you think about it, remains the same in good times and in bad. Maybe in 2017, if oil and gas prices are still low, it will have some sway. Just not this time.
Once again, that “pro business environment” in Texas is only for a select few. Until people stop electing Taliban-esque legislators, Texans will continue to see their fellow citizens improve the economies of Louisiana and Oklahoma.
The whole prohibition on gambling is stupid. How much money is law enforcement wasting on busting convenience stores and game rooms with 8-liner machines, for example. Just legalize all the various forms of gambling and be done with it.
Once again, people who claim to be against Sharia law sure act like they support it.
I guess gambling is only moral when the State of Texas is running the game.