Will Casino Gambling and/or Sports Betting Get on the Texas Ballot?

Does casino gambling and/or sports betting have a shot at getting on the ballot this November here in Texas?

We say: It's a long shot.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already thwarted one attempt to get the state lottery into the sports-betting business and is generally averse to gambling expansion, while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also opposes the introduction of casinos and has gone so far as to say that sports betting is “not going to see the light of day.”

Back when Sheldon Adelson was still alive, he might have committed a tactical error by putting all his chips on the Texas GOP (which also received several million dollars of his money). Republicans in the Texas Legislature have made little show of gratitude for Adelson’s largesse, at least when it came to Adelson's gambling ambitions in the Lone Star State.

To their credit, some of them filed a bill in the Lege (as the late columnist, commentator, and humorist Molly Ivins dubbed it) that would authorize four destination resorts, slated for Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. The minimum amount of investment would vary according to the size of the market ($2 billion for the larger cities, $1 billion for the smaller ones). Sports betting would also be legitimized. Horse tracks in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio would be juiced into slot machines, as would dog tracks in Harlingen and Corpus Christi.

In observance of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribal casinos in El Paso, Eagle Pass, and Livingston would be extended full-gambling status, which they do not currently enjoy. (They’ve fought a running engagement with the state for decades to offer any gambling at all.) All slots would be taxed at 25%, table games at 10%.

While Abbott is currently hedging his stance on gaming, taking a wait-and-see attitude, Patrick continues to pour cold water on the idea, saying it lacks the votes in the state Senate.

Even if the bill gets out of the Lege and across Abbott’s desk, it’s not a sure thing with voters. A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll found only majority support for the general idea (a two-thirds supermajority is needed) and just 41% support for casino-megaresorts.

Las Vegas Sands claims its polling shows much higher levels of public approval … but Sands is not exactly a disinterested party. We hope gambling makes it onto the November ballot, but being realists, we're guardedly pessimistic at this point.

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AyeCarambaPoker May-15-2021

Woo-hoo

Hurrah. Someone has finally used the word “disinterested” correctly. It’s one of my major bugbears when it’s used incorrectly 

For those of you using it to mean not interested please stop now - it doesn’t mean that

Kevin Lewis May-15-2021

Adelson's miscalculation

It is and always has been very easy to buy Republicans (especially with the group discount), so Adelson must have been quite surprised when a few million dollars didn't do what it was supposed to. Perhaps they expected much more, given his massive wealth? It's tattooed on many Republican buttocks: "Affluence buys influence."

As to whether the voters will have any say in the matter, well...that's hilarious. We're talking Texas here.

Bobby White May-15-2021

Sadly never

Yep, add to that all the illegal & unregulated gambling people spending $$ bucks against oh well that is what we have Vegas for.

Pat Higgins May-15-2021

Big Tex

I personally in favor of of gambling in Texas.  Way too much money going out of state.  Go to any casino in a neighboring state and 80% of the license plates are from Texas.  

Even if both houses of the legislature and Gov Abbott approve the issue there are just too many Baptists in Texas to have a 2/3 favorable majority.  

Wish it would pass.

Jackie May-15-2021

None of you understand Texas

I am a native Texan and lived through the fight to get horse racing legitimized in Texas.  It's not the politicians nor Adelson's  money that is insufficient it is the Southern Baptist religious morons that have to be overcome, otherwise known by the Blue Laws they got passed.  

One hell of a fight happened over getting liquor buyable on days and times they made illegal which only produced illegal operations known as bootleggers.  Those religious zealots won't let anything happen in Texas that goes against their ridiculous bible misinterpretations.  

The irony to all of this is gambling does exist in Texas IF you are a member of one of the many lodges, a male (no women allowed), and pay your dues to the GOP.

So as LVA said "A long shot" was incredibly optimistic.

OMB13 May-15-2021

Not to upset anyone...but...

disinterested "can" mean not interested according to the Meriam-Webster 2nd definition.

Definition of disinterested
1a: not having the mind or feelings engaged (see ENGAGED sense 1) : not interested
telling them in a disinterested voice

disinterested in women

b: no longer interested
husband and wife become disinterested in each other

OMB13 May-15-2021

typing too fast

Merriam has 2 rs

Randall Ward May-15-2021

Texas gambling

As an Okie tribal member I hope Texas doesn't do anything.  Also wish our governor would stop fighting the tribes so we could get sports betting, my favorite

Dan McGlasson May-15-2021

From a life long Texan

Several comments - be patient with me!!

1) Governor Abbott just signed a bill to make alcohol-to-go permanent in Texas.  I was surprised when it was allowed during Covid, but expected it to go away.  Not so!  It is now permanent.  If alcohol-to-go can happen, maybe gambling will be considered.  Especially since . . . 

2) Baptist (of which I have very proud roots) influence is large.  They are normally against anything like alcohol-to-go, but it stillnpassed.  Maybe things could change, especially since . . . 

3) The reliable Republican vote has wavered in several sections of the state.  While Texas will be red for a while, it is not as red as it was with transplants from blue states moving in.

Finally - great reference to Molly Ivins.  Awesome writer, especially her articles in Texas Monthly.

Now, off to my plane for Las Vegas . . .

Texas Transplant May-15-2021

Don't need gambling in Texas

I moved here from the Northeast about 30 years ago and love it here in Texas.

I like gambling and just came back from a trip to Las Vegas,  but when I want to gamble I can go 80 minutes to Oklahoma and s hours to Shreveport. I don't need the problems that come along as a side effect of gambling in my backyard. Texas doesn't need the income from legalized gambling. That said, there are various mechanisms for citizens to take to make i legal.


Texans can put a bill to legalize gambling on a referendum to vote on.   If it does Texans can vote for it.  Haven't seen that happen yet.  IF enough Texans want gambling, it will happen through referendum/ballot box.

Texas is well-run and successful, if you consider all the people moving here from the rest of the country any measure of success.  EXAMPLE: Looks like Texas will be gaining TWO additional seats in the House of Representatives, one at the expense of California. 

As in the past, the people of Texas will decide this issue.

gaattc2001 May-15-2021

To Jackie: I lived in Dallas for seventeen years...

and saw the alcohol sideshow first-hand. The "Addison Strip" North of the I-605 Freeway is almost solid restaurants, because it was the first place in Texas to allow liquor by the drink. I could tell all kinds of stories about crazy Texas liquor laws.
As for Texas gaming: there are horse tracks, but for casino action you have to go to Louisiana or Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Blackjack has an "ante" structure that makes it worse than 6-5. The video poker is under tribal rules and there's no way to tell if the random numbers are really random. OTOH, WinStar had a pretty good poker room last time I went by; and they have deep-fried chicken gizzards at the buffet. That's gotta count for something.
Shreveport is more like Nevada, The casinos have to be on the water. They are spread out along the Red river on both sides, so it's hard to go from one to another. The Blackjack was better than Oklahoma, but I suspect they've gone to 6-5 by now.
I agree that gaming in Texas itself is a long shot.

Kenneth Mytinger May-15-2021

From a friend in Ft Worth

(I'm here in LV)

The Las Vegas group has spent a fortune on advertising and it is all presented as a really good thing for Texans, for our schools, for our state sales tax revenue, etc.  But the ads have suddenly disappeared because it can't be passed, at least not now, and it's a waste of their money and effort.  There's no real enthusiasm in the state for expanding our access to gambling.  We already have Oklahoma and Louisiana access, right across the borders.

Roy Furukawa May-15-2021

Can of worms

Being from CA, we have lots of casinos, card clubs and lottery, but i think it decimated the small Nevada casinos and Laughlin when we started getting casinos. I don’t frequent any of them because just like friends from NY said when I asked why they didn’t just go to Atlantic City, the response was it’s not Vegas. Same goes for me in CA, I’m not into waiting in line to play a slot machine or grab a seat at a table. There’s crime and seedy characters that come with it too.

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