We’re just gonna keep doing this, aren’t we?
Photo by Joel Kramer via Flickr creative commons
Undaunted by legislative defeat more than a year ago, Las Vegas Sands, one of the world’s biggest casino operators, is gearing up for another push to legalize casino gambling in Texas and is reaching out to local leaders across the state to build support in advance of the next legislative session in January.
Sands lobbyists are making their case at a statewide series of roundtable forums arranged by the Texas Association of Business to build momentum for another run at gambling legislation in 2025. Nearly 50 municipal officials and business representatives from Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas and other North Texas cities participated in one of the sessions recently in Tarrant County.
Sands leaders have expanded their North Texas footprint significantly over the past year with the purchase of the Dallas Mavericks and more than 100 acres in Irving near the former Texas Stadium site — large enough to build a destination casino resort.
Their community outreach is just one element in a multipart strategy that also includes hefty political donations and intense lobbying by Sands and other gambling interests to overcome resistance to high-end casinos and legalized sports betting.
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“(Their chances) haven’t improved at all. In fact, they’ve gotten worse from last session,” Rob Kohler, a consultant for the Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission, said of efforts to legalize gambling. Legislative opposition to gambling among Republicans increased after the March primaries, Kohler said.
Sands’ latest efforts to gear up for the next session reinforces statements made by Sands chief lobbyist Andy Abboud shortly after the 2023 outcome, when he vowed to “continue to press forward with our efforts in Texas.”
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Chris Wallace, president and CEO of the North Texas Commission, said his group has formed an exploratory committee to examine the issue and helped organize the conference as part of an effort to “really get our arms around” all sides of the argument over legalized gambling before lawmakers act.
He said he’s “doubtful” that the Legislature will take final action in the next session, predicting that the push for legalized gambling may require a “multi-session strategy” possibly stretching into the biennial sessions of 2027 or 2029.
See here for some background. Why they think doing the same thing but even harder will work in the future when it has failed so many times in the past is a question I cannot answer. I will once again point out that nowhere in this story does the name “Dan Patrick” appear. Until such time that either Dan Patrick says that expanded gambling is A-OK with him, or such time as Dan Patrick is no longer Lite Guv, I will continue to bet on their failure. I will also once again note that maybe a strategy of electing more people that support their cause might be the better path forward, but that would involve ousting some number of Republican incumbents, including as noted Dan Patrick, and these guys ain’t gonna do that. So they will keep running it back, and you can insert your own “Lucy and the football” joke here.