Texas Rep. Dan Huberty has introduced a bill to put a measure on the ballot to amend the Lone Star State’s constitution to allow for sports betting. He wants to use the money generated for education.
His bill is the fourth such bill introduced in this year’s session. It is also one of two gaming bills that have been filed, including several that would authorize casinos in some of the state’s largest cities. Dallas would be the obvious top destination resort target if such a bill moves forward.
To amend the state constitution requires passage by two-thirds of both chambers of the legislature and then a positive vote by the people. This is required because most forms of gambling are banned by the constitution, except for bingo, the Texas Lottery and horse and greyhound track racing.
However, lawmakers know that the polls, including recent ones by the Dallas News and the University of Texas at Tyler, show strong support by a majority of those responding to casino gaming. The U of T poll indicates
57 percent support casino gaming with 29 percent against, and 13 percent undecided. The News poll show support for sports betting by 43 percent to 26 percent, and 31 percent undecided.
Sports betting efforts are supported by most of the state’s 13 pro sports teams—who pointedly separate that support from the push for casinos. A spokesman for the Sports Betting Alliance, Cara Gustafson, said in a statement: “The Sports Betting Alliance is focused solely on mobile sports betting legislation, however several of our member teams and organizations may support these bills individually and any bills that give Texans the opportunity to decide if they want to regulate gaming in Texas.”
Although Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has very publicly downplayed the possibility that such a bill could survive in the legislature, Huberty is going forward anyway.
He told KSAT News: “I’m talking already about $5.6 billion. It’s going out of the state for people that are already doing this. And that’s just, that’s just what we believe it’s to be. We believe it’s you know, it’s obviously much higher than that.”
He wants the $5.6 billion to go toward education. “Texas has lagged behind in our funding for special education and meeting what we call maintenance of effort over the years. And so, this will help bridge that gap as well.”
Noting that the House Speaker and Lt. Governor both say education is a priority, he added, “And so, is this a way to be able to at least have the debate — is this something that we want to do? Is this something that we want the voters to be able to vote on? And we believe the answer is yes.”
The casino bills jointly proposed by Rep. John Kuempel, and Senator Carol Alvarado, whose represents Houston, would authorize four casino resorts in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston while also legalizing sportsbooks. It would also open up gaming to Texas’s three Indian tribes, two of which have been battling the state for decades to be legally allowed to operate casinos.
Joint Resolution 133 in the House and the Senate’s Joint Resolution 49 propose a tax rate of 25 percent for slots and 10 percent for table games. Four total casinos would be authorized.
The main mover behind these efforts is Las Vegas Sands, whose late founder Sheldon Adelson launched them after giving millions of dollars to Republican office holders to help retain the Texas legislature for the GOP. For LVS, Dallas is the jewel in the crown.
The company’s chief lobbyist, Andy Abboud, who heads a team of six dozen lobbyists in Texas, commented recently, “We’ll look at the entire market of Texas, but focus primarily on Dallas because that is where the greatest bleed of money is going, across the Oklahoma border,” He added, “While it has a strong tourism industry, we can enhance that.”
Adelson’s successor, CEO Rob Goldstein, in an interview with the Dallas Morning News, said “Our commitment is to develop transformational destination resorts that create tens of thousands of jobs and produce billions in revenue for the state while also providing robust economic benefits to the local host communities.”
His company promises to spend billions on local resorts and in fact, $2 billion is the minimum investment to build in one of the state’s larger metro areas and $1 billion for a metropolitan with a population of fewer than 5 million.
Some estimates say the state’s resident spend $2.5 billion a year at out-of-state casinos, money proponents say should stay in the state.
