A positive economic forecast for the Lone Star State, and death of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson aren’t good news for efforts to bring five casino resorts to Texas. Efforts that had relied in part on providing a new revenue stream during a recession.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has released a sunny forecast of the state’s fiscal future.
Past bad financial times produced the impetus for the state lottery, legalized bingo and legal horse and dog racing. That and the state legislature’s aversion to new taxes. That well-known allergy to taxes is one of the reasons the state has become the largest target for emigrants fleeing high tax states such as California and New York.
Although Adelson, a major donor to Republican politicians in the state, has died, there are still 25 registered lobbyists representing the interests of his Las Vegas Sands organization. Adelson has been pressing for the legislature to allow five casinos to be built in five major urban areas. His lobbyists had offered them as a surefire source of revenue in uncertain times.
Heger’s biennial revenue estimate is cold water for that argument. It still means lawmakers must cut $1 billion from the $250 billion, but they aren’t nearly as strapped as it had looked late last year.
