But Axios is gonna write about it as if there’s a chance, because it’s that time of the biennium again.
Photo by Joel Kramer via Flickr creative commons
Texas remains a holdout in the nationwide push to expand gambling, but industry representatives are headed to Austin for the upcoming legislative session hoping for a breakthrough.
Why it matters: State lawmakers will soon consider multiple bills that could lead to legalized mobile sports betting and resort-style casinos.
- Legal casinos could be a boon to the Texas economy — with thousands of jobs in tow — but also come with documented societal ills.
Flashback: Efforts to legalize sports betting in 2021 and 2023 came up short, despite a massive lobbying operation by casinos, betting sites like DraftKings and pro sports teams.
- At the outset of the last legislative session, Las Vegas Sands was paying as much as $6.55 million to well-connected lobbyists to persuade lawmakers to ease state gambling restrictions.
- Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was hired as a spokesperson for the Sports Betting Alliance, which includes major sportsbook operators and all of Texas’ major professional teams.
State of play: The state constitution restricts gambling, so even if bills loosening gambling pass, they would require a statewide referendum.
- Texas law allows for a lottery, charitable bingo, parimutuel betting on horse and dog racing, and gambling at three tribe-owned casinos — in Eagle Pass, El Paso and Livingston.
- Poker rooms are also open across the state, though the legality is murky.
What they’re saying: “For me, it’s not really a revenue issue, it’s a freedom and liberty issue,” state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican from Plano whose 2023 sports betting bill cleared the Texas House but never passed the Texas Senate, told the Austin American-Statesman recently.
[…]
The other side: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, has shown little appetite for more legalized gambling, despite the lobbying push.
- “The votes aren’t there,” he told WFAA reporter Jason Whitely in November, throwing cold water on the issue before the Legislature even convenes.
- “If a bill ever started to get close and moving, you’re going to hear from the other side, from the pastors, from the business community, from the citizens who oppose it,” he said.
[…]
What’s next: FanDuel CEO Amy Howe told Axios it could take until 2027 for Texas to legalize sports betting.
- “Tough to pinpoint exactly when it’s going to happen,” she said. “We feel good about the momentum, so hard to say exactly which year, but we think we feel cautiously optimistic.”
This was from December, but it got lost in the holidays, so I’m running it now. Not that long ago, but well before the election, gambling bills were already being declared dead for the next session. I don’t know what anyone thinks may have changed since then, and I have never known why the people who write these stories (for any publication, I’m not picking on Axios here) don’t seem to grasp that Dan Patrick is the immovable object in the path of any gambling expansion effort. This story posits that maybe Trump could get Patrick to budge on the issue, and while I’ll admit that could be true, I can’t imagine it happening. It’s just not a thing that Trump cares about. Also, since that story came out, the right-wing Texas Public Policy Foundation released a study about the potential social costs of expanded gambling, so add that to the ledger.
Just a point of clarification, any expansion of gambling would require a constitutional amendment. The bill passed by Rep. Leach was the enabling legislation for a joint resolution, which is the vehicle for putting a referendum before the voters. That also passed, but the companion bill in the Senate never got a committee hearing, even though its author was a Patrick minion. Patrick crapped on Leach’s bill in 2023, and as I said, nothing has changed since then.
Finally, I have no idea why DraftKings CEO Amy Howe thinks 2027 would be any different than 2025. Again, the issue is Dan Patrick, so unless he retires, gets defeated, or changes his mind, we will continue to repeat this story. I would of course welcome her help in trying to vote him out in 2026, but I doubt that was what she meant to say.
Anyway, same story, different day. When something really does change, I assure you, you will know.
re: ““If a bill ever started to get close and moving, you’re going to hear from the other side, from the pastors, from the business community, from the citizens who oppose it,” he said”
Isn’t tithing to a church, in part, betting that your donation is going to help get you into heaven, or at least in good graces with Joel Olsteen ?
C.L. not in present day Catholic church, maybe in others.