Doesn’t really change anything, though.
Photo by Joel Kramer via Flickr creative commons
Gov. Greg Abbott is ready to allow online sports betting in Texas.
In an exclusive interview for the Texas Take Podcast, Abbott said he has no objection to the Texas Legislature passing a law to join 39 other states that have legalized online sports betting. He said he considers sports betting part of the entertainment of watching professional football and other sports.
“I don’t have a problem with online sports betting,” Abbott said in an interview at the governor’s mansion. “The reality is that I’d be shocked if there were not some Texans that do it already.”
The comments are some of the governor’s strongest in support of an industry that has ramped up its lobbying and political giving in recent years.
A coalition of major sports franchises in the state, including the Dallas Cowboys, the Houston Astros and the San Antonio Spurs, have teamed up with sports gaming companies like BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel to push for legalized betting through the Texas Sports Betting Alliance. They’ve hired more than a dozen lobbyists and tapped big names in politics and sports, such as former Gov. Rick Perry and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, to help make their pitch.
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In order to allow sports betting or expand casinos in Texas, the Legislature would need to amend the state constitution by getting a two-thirds vote of both chambers and then get a vote of the people.
In 2023, the issue got as far as it ever has. A bill by State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, cleared the House by an 82-51 vote but was never picked up by the Senate, where the biggest hurdles remain.
State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, had proposed a similar bill in 2023, but it never gained much momentum. State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, has reintroduced another bill this year that would allow an expansion of casinos in Texas, as well as allow sports betting.
But that bill has an uphill climb. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican who runs the Texas Senate, has repeatedly said he doesn’t have enough Republicans in the Senate who support the idea. He said he opposes bringing the issue to a vote unless a majority of Republicans in the Senate are prepared to back the bill. He has said that voters in Texas elected a majority of Republicans in the Senate, and he’s not going to allow a Democrat-led bill to pass over the opposition of most of the Republicans in the Senate.
The Republican Party of Texas has also long opposed expanded gambling in their official platform. Violating that platform could result in public censures and the party campaigning against members who vote for casinos.
Influential conservative groups like the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin have argued against expanding gambling in the state. While allowing casinos and sports betting can result in more tax revenue to fund the government, a policy brief released last month by TPPF warned it would lead to higher rates of gambling addiction.
Abbott has made similar comments before, prior to the 2023 session. To be fair, this time he’s more specific about sports betting, and he used to be flatly opposed to any expansion of gambling, so this is a change on his part. All of that gambling money is having an effect somewhere, it seems. He’s still being his usual mealy-mouthed self, and there’s no indication at all that he has any desire to cross swords with Dan Patrick or the anti-gambling factions within the Republican Party, so take this for the little showing of support that it is.
Two more points to note. One is that Dan Patrick remains a master of disguising his own responsibility in these stories. He always refers to there being insufficient Republican support in the Senate for gambling legislation to pass. That may well be true, but if it is it’s because Dan Patrick has never been interested in making it not true. This is Dan Patrick’s Senate – if he wanted gambling legislation to pass, it would pass, if not in this session then in the next one that convenes after he’s successfully removed the obstacles to it.
And two, for any future gambling expansion to happen, there are two pieces of legislation that must pass. One is the joint resolution, which is the vehicle for putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That is what requires the two-thirds majority. One such joint resolution passed (barely) out of the House in 2023, but did not get taken up in the Senate, as promised by Danno. The second is the enabling legislation, which is an ordinary bill that just needs a regular majority, and which takes the joint resolution/constitutional amendment and turns it into statutory code, with all of the rules and restrictions and whatnot. For that to pass, in either chamber, without the joint resolution, means nothing, because there’s no amendment to vote on. I find it annoying, and I’m sure plenty of people find it confusing, to read stories that talk about the two-thirds majorities needed to put gambling up for a vote but then also refer to the ordinary enabling legislation that passed with less-than-two-thirds majorities and act as though that was some kind of Big Deal. Please, let’s be nerdier about this stuff, because the details matter.
FYI, that Texas Take podcast episode will drop on Friday, if you care to listen to the interview with Abbott and hear his exact words on this subject for some reason.
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This entry was posted in Jackpot!, That's our Lege and tagged BetMGM, Carol Alvarado, Constitution, Dan Patrick, DraftKings, FanDuel, gambling, Greg Abbott, Jeff Leach, Lois Kolkhorst, Miriam Adelson, Rick Perry, Sports Betting Alliance, Texas, Texas Sands PAC, The Lege, Tilman Fertitta. Bookmark the permalink.
A disgusting giveaway that rips off the taxpayrs and consumers.
The bill effectively bans African Americans and LGBTs from the highly profitable initial licenses too.