It is no secret that the Lone Star state is far behind other states when it comes to gambling expansion. Despite its reputation for being the origin of Wild West saloons and poker games, Texas needs to move forward in leaps and bounds if it wants to even begin to keep up with other states. Gambling supporters know that they have a tough battle on their hands, in a state where more pressing political matters are immigration and hurricanes; however, that hasn’t stopped them from considering gambling legislation for the 2019 session.
Now that the US Supreme Court has overturned a nationwide ban on sports betting, Texas could theoretically weigh the option of introducing a sports betting law within the state constitution framework, pushing it for approval through the House and Senate before it reaches the Governor’s table. Will Texas lawmakers consider sports betting an important topic to discuss when it next convenes in 2019?
Nobody believes that Texas will be running to embrace any form of gambling expansion any time soon. After all, we are talking about a state that only sold its first lottery ticket in 1992, that only approved pari-mutuel wagering on horse and greyhound tracks in 1987 and that has no state-run casinos. Recent attempts to regulate Daily Fantasy Sports betting on sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings fell flat after a bill proposal failed to even make it out of the committee.
That is not to say, however, that there isn’t a core group – especially along Texas’ coastline – that is calling for changes to gambling and the introduction of legal sports betting. Towns such as Corpus Christi and Galveston have shown that sportsbooks could be supported at dog tracks if the industry was legalized by the local government.
There is also no overlooking the potential revenue that could be seen by legal sports betting. One only has to look at the numbers brought in by the sale of lottery tickets ($5 billion in annual sales with a quarter returning to state coffers), to realize that even the toughest opponents cannot argue with the dollar signs. There are also many tourism revenue opportunities for gambling. Neighboring Louisiana generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year through its casinos, while Mississippi also has many casinos and is getting ready to roll out legal sports betting any day now.
Will die-hard Texan gambling opponents manage to keep the state from joining in the changes that are being seen across the US’s betting market?
