Suggestions that both casinos and sports betting could be legalized in Texas as early as 2025 are greatly exaggerated. This despite some optimistic talk recently that Texans could soon be gambling at resorts in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.
Last week, on a panel at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, a group of lobbyists for the Texas casino industry painted an overly-optimistic picture. Andy Abboud, the SVP Government Affairs for Las Vegas Sands that is pushing hard to build casinos in Texas, even suggested the likelihood of casinos being legalized in 2025 was greater than 50/50.
However, that doesn’t seem like a safe bet given the size of the political hurdles legalization efforts will need to clear in the Lone Star State.
Casinos not likely to be legalized while Dan Patrick holds the reins
Both the Republican-controlled Senate and its leader, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have been vehemently opposed to legalizing gambling.
In 2023, two House bills aimed at legalizing casinos failed when neither were called to a vote.
A House bill calling for the legalization of sports betting did pass the Texas House. However, Patrick, who controls the Senate, did not allow the legislation to receive a committee hearing, killing the initiative.
Further, the official platform of the Texas Republican Party, released on June 7 of this year, clearly states:
“We oppose any expansion of gambling, including legalized casino gambling. We oppose and call for a veto of any budget that relies on expansion of legalized casino gambling of any type or size, whether as a standalone business or partnered with any other business or resort, as a method of finance.
“We call on all Republican legislators to decline campaign contributions from gambling PACs and lobbyists and oppose any effort from the House leadership or members of the House Calendars Committee to pressure members to vote for expanded gambling.”
Powerful reasons Texas should legalize gambling
That seems like a pretty clear stance, but it doesn’t mean the Republicans and Patrick won’t — or shouldn’t — change their minds.
After all, estimates are that Texas is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue every year from Texans travelling to neighboring Oklahoma and Louisiana to gamble. As well, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates Texans illegally bet about $8 billion annually on sports. The revenue from that would add up to a significant amount of tax revenue for Texas.
Caesar Fernandez, Senior Director, Head of State Government Relations for FanDuel, spoke on the G2E panel. He estimated sports betting revenue alone would produce $1 billion in tax revenue in Texas within five years. After all, Texas is home to nearly 31 million people and is the nation’s second most populous state.
Also, regulating and controlling gambling would better protect Texans that are currently engaging in it despite it being illegal.
And, recent polls have indicated that the majority of Texans are in favor of legalizing gambling.
So, there are strong reasons for legalizing both casinos and sports betting in Texas.
But first, one must convince Patrick and enough Republicans in the Texas Senate to even consider the issue.
That won’t be easy, meaning 2025 is much more of a pipe dream than a sure thing.
