From the inbox:
REPORT OUTLINES 77.5K JOBS BY REGION, SECTOR CREATED BY SLOTS BILL
Confirms Texans Continue To Spend Billions Gaming in Neighboring States
AUSTIN, Texas – Win For Texas released a new report today outlining the specific regions and sectors of the 77,500 new, permanent jobs that will be created when slots are allowed at Texas horse and greyhound tracks and recognized Indian reservations. TXP, a Texas economic policy consulting group, prepared the study.
The study also details the $2.7 billion dollars Texans spend on gaming in a seven state region every year. TXP estimates that $2.2 billion of this “leakage” could be kept here simply by allowing slot machines at existing racetracks and Indian reservations.
“TXP estimates that approximately $2.4 billion in gaming revenue (and $3.8 billion total) would appear in-state by the end of 2013,” said TXP President, Jon Hockenyos. “This in turn would create $8.5 billion in total economic activity, $2.6 billion in earnings, and about 77,500 permanent jobs.”
The new report breaks down the specific economic and job creation into five regions: Austin Area, DFW, Houston and the Rest of Texas.
“The economic benefits of implementing slots are well-distributed across the state, as Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston each stand to gain close to 20,000 permanent jobs, Austin and San Antonio will realize approximately 10,000, and the balance is distributed across the rest of Texas,” said Hockenyos.
The legislation that would bring this proposal to Texas voters to decide is HJR 111/ SJR 33. The enabling legislation that details the implementation and oversight are HB 2111/ SB 1118.
The study was commissioned by Win For Texas and is attached in its entirety. For more information about this proposal or Win For Texas, please visit www.winfortexas.com.
Please see the report for your region’s specific benefits. The TXP report is attached and may also be downloaded here: http://www.winfortexas.com/TXP_Regional_Impact_Slots_Tracks_Spring_2011.pdf
I will simply note that TXP issued a similar report in 2009, which I blogged about here. I’ll leave it to you do compare the two and see what differences there are. Hey, we’ll need something for all those soon to be unemployed people to do.
As for the ubiquitous question of gambling’s prospects in the Lege, it doesn’t look any clearer now than it did before the session. The good news for gambling interests is that a consensus bill may emerge from the House.
A Texas House committee will listen to several gambling proposals at a hearing today , and in the coming days, the chairman of the committee will take all the proposals and roll them into one measure.
The forthcoming piece of all-encompassing legislation by Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton, R-Mauriceville, could lead to seven new Las Vegas-style casinos, slot machines at 13 horse and dog tracks across the state, slots at a few Indian reservations and slots at bingo halls across Texas, he said.
“Something for everybody,” Hamilton said. “We’ll put them all together.”
But there are competing gambling interests in Texas, and getting them to work with one another could prove difficult; casino proponents and the group wanting slots at tracks have not been able to work together this session or in sessions past.
There are also pro-gambling groups representing bingo halls and Indian reservations.
Hamilton, though, said he can get them all together.
Asked how he’d reach a consensus among the competing groups, Hamilton said, “Because I’m the chairman, and there will be just one bill passed out of committee.”
Whether that’s a bill that makes the casino interests, the racetrack interests, and the Indian tribes happy or one that makes some or all of them feel disgruntled remains to be seen. It’s also not clear that this consensus bill, or any other gambling bill, will get a hearing in the Senate.
While a new statewide poll shows that 86 percent of Texans believe the public should vote on whether to legalize casinos, an influential state Senate chairman with jurisdiction over gambling said Monday he has no intention of advancing the necessary legislation.
“There is no support in my committee,” said state Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock. “I just don’t think there are the votes in the Senate. I don’t see any chance of passage.”
Duncan’s opposition signals almost insurmountable odds for the expansion of gambling in Texas, despite the industry’s hopes that lawmakers would look favorably upon casinos this year as a solution to the state’s fiscal crisis.
So far, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has referred all gambling resolutions and bills filed in the Texas Senate to the State Affairs Committee, which Duncan chairs.
His spokesman, Mike Walz, said Dewhurst also likely would refer all “stand-alone” gambling bills passed by the House to Duncan’s committee. He noted that the issue could be attached to other significant legislation that traditionally is heard by other committees.
So the door isn’t completely closed, but it’s far from wide open. I thought gambling’s odds may have improved somewhat after the terribly austere Pitts and Ogden budgets first surfaced, but this doesn’t lend support to that thesis.
As for the poll mentioned in the story, there’s no details or references to the poll data, and I’m not interested in seeking them out. We’ve seen plenty of polling data that suggests Texans support the idea, so this is no revelation. I still think the fundamental issue is a lack of legislators that support it. If Hamilton’s “consensus” bill never makes it to the House floor, that will tell you all you need to know. The Trib, Texas Politics, and Postcards have more.
Texas lawmakers do not have the right to keep Texans from voting on this issue IMHO. Poll after poll clearly shows that Texans support expanded gaming in Texas. Texans are gambling in LA, NM, and OK and Texas is not getting the revenues. Pretty stupid.
Do you have any idea how many TB/QH breeding farms/operations have left Texas?
The non-gambling revenue alone would be a huge benefit for hotels and restaurants. Not to mention the construction and jobs that go along with it!
If I had the chance right now — I would vote for casino gambling at horse racetracks and indian reservations. It’s the right thing to do. We can’t ignore the long term benefits of casinos in Texas. Just look at the plates on the cars parked out in front of the casinos in Hobbs and Lake Charles — they’re all Texas plates!
Bob the Builder,
You are correct! A sea of Texas plates. Texans love to gamble!
You would also have TB and QH farms coming back to Texas. These breeding farms/trainers purchase real estate, employ people, purchase feed and vet supplies, hay, vet services, farrier services, trucks, trailers, tractors, utilities, groceries, fuel, etc., etc. It would be a huge boom to our economy.
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