Legalized gambling is making another push in Texas with a bill that, if passed by the Texas Legislature, would allow Texans to vote on the issue coming in November. State Representative Charlie Geren R-Forth Worth has written a bill to legalize casino gambling. If passed, then Texas voters would vote on it on November 17th.
“Geren’s resolution is one of several bills relating to expanding gambling in Texas expected to be filed in the next few weeks amid a heavy push to bring gambling to the Lone Star State, which has long been resistant to making that move,” according to the Dallas Morning News.
Geren’s Joint Resolution Bill states that the purpose is to:
- Foster economic growth
- Tax relief and funding for education and safety programs
- Legalized horse race and sports betting
- Creating a Texas Gaming Commission to adopt and force rules necessary for legalized gambling
- Requiring licenses with application fees
- Qualifications for receiving a casino license
- Gambling taxes
- Limited in the state where the greatest possible impact will happen
- 2 Casinos in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area
- 2 in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar area
- 1 in the San Antonio-New Braunfels area
- 1 in Corpus Christi
- 1 in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area
“The qualified voters of this state should have the opportunity to decide whether to authorize casino gambling at destination resorts,” wrote Geren in his bill.
In recent years, there has been a push to legalize gambling in the state of Texas, and it has popularity amongst Texas voters and politicians. Legalized gambling and sports betting has grown in popularity as millions travel out of state to bet on horses, go to casinos, and do online sports betting. Polls show the majority of Texans support the legislation.
The Las Vegas Sands has created a Texas Public Action Committee (PAC), called the Texas Sands PAC. Las Vegas Sands has more lobbyists in Texas than any other company. “We will continue to actively engage state and local leaders over the course of this session and remain committed to working with lawmakers to ultimately allow voters to decide on this issue,” a spokesperson for the Texas Sands PAC told Axios.
The bill has fostered some support from higher politicians, most notably Governor Greg Abbott and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan. Both state that they would not want to see slot machines in every convenience store. Instead, if this bill is passed, they want to be looking at professional, well-developed, and high-class casinos and resorts in Texas to bring in revenue and traffic.
Proponents of having gambling legalized in Texas point to the increase in state revenue that Texas would get in the hundreds of millions, which could also fund education and other programs in the state. It would also lead to thousands of jobs in Texas.
There is another bill titled Senate Joint Resolution 17 written by State Senator Carol Alvarado (D-Houston), that seeks the same ends as Geren’s bill with a few differences. Both bills would allow Texas Voters to decide if legalized gambling will be allowed in Texas.