{"id":268878,"date":"2023-04-14T15:22:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T20:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=268878"},"modified":"2023-04-17T13:33:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T18:33:15","slug":"texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Legislation Still Faces Hurdles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward in the state legislature. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.<\/p>\n

\"Texas
The Texas state capitol, pictured above. Legislators are considering proposals to expand gambling in the state. (Image: Visit Austin<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bills have been introduced that would leave it to the voters to decide whether the state should have a limited number of destination casinos and the ability to wager on sporting events.<\/p>\n

One bill, HJR (House Joint Resolution) 102, which would legalize sports wagering, already was approved by the House State Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n

But [it] faces an uncertain future on the Texas House floor, where HJR 102 needs the support of two-thirds of the representatives for passage,\u201d<\/strong> Mark P. Jones<\/a>, a political science fellow at Rice University\u2019s Baker Institute, recently told Casino.org<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In charge of the House chamber is Speaker Dade Phelan<\/a> (R), who has voiced some support for increased gambling.<\/p>\n

Patrick in Control<\/h2>\n

Even if the legislation gets the mandated approval of two-thirds of House members, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a> (R), who oversees the Senate chamber, and his Senate Republican colleagues may reject bills in that chamber, Jones said.<\/p>\n

Unless I have 15 to 16 Republicans, meaning it\u2019s a Republican-driven bill because we\u2019re a Republican-driven state, I\u2019m not bringing a bill to the floor,\u201d<\/strong> Patrick further told Texas TV station KXAN<\/em>. \u201cI need Republican consensus otherwise, it\u2019s a Democrat bill.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Patrick is described as “the biggest traffic cop for legislation expanding gambling,” according to University of Houston political science Professor Brandon Rottinghaus. “Unless he sees support in the Senate, it won\u2019t matter how far the legislation goes in the House,\u201d Rottinghaus recently told Casino.org.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The House State Affairs Committee approved two gambling-related bills earlier this month. One was HJR 155, authored by Representative Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), and the second is HB 2843, authored by Representative John Kuempel (R-Seguin). The bills would let voters in the state decide whether to expand gambling in Texas. The committee votes were 9-3, with Republican members being opposed, The Texas Tribune<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Opposition by Republican senators is credited to either a belief that social costs of gambling outweigh revenue benefits, and\/or future blowback in the upcoming 2024 or 2026 Republican primaries from Evangelical Christian groups who are against gambling legislation, especially HJR 97, Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless at least 15 or 16 of the 19 Texas Republican state senators are willing to vote in favor of gambling, both sports betting as contained in HJR 102 and casino gambling as contained in HJR 97, Patrick will use his control over the Senate agenda to keep the bills from reaching the floor for a roll call vote,\u201d Jones added.<\/p>\n

Like in the House, two-thirds of that chamber would need to vote for the legislation before it could be sent to voters for a referendum. Jones suspects the passage of sports betting should be easier to achieve than the passage of casino gambling.<\/p>\n

Horse Trade Possible<\/h2>\n

There is a possibility that Republican Senators will back casino gambling legislation as part of a \u201cbroader horse trade,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

\n

Under such a deal, some House Republicans would support, and some House Democrats acquiesce, to the passage of school choice legislation in exchange for support of gambling bills, Jones added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Patrick is among the Republicans who support school choice expansion.<\/p>\n

Compromise is Difficult<\/h2>\n

Compromises may be hard to achieve in the current legislative session.<\/p>\n

House and Senate divisions on several bills will complicate compromise on this bill. Expanded gambling legislation could be a victim of personality divides between the chambers,\u201d<\/strong> Rottinghaus said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier this month, Patrick said the Senate has \u201czero support\u201d for gambling expansion, KXAN <\/em>reported. Yet, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Houston), is sponsoring SJR (Senate Joint Resolution) 39, a constitutional amendment to let Texans wager on sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward in the state legislature. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead. Bills have been introduced that would leave it to the voters to decide whether the state should have a limited number of destination casinos and the ability to wager on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":268887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,61],"tags":[81899,81901,82459],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTexas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Bills Still Face Hurdles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Bills Still Face Hurdles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-14T20:22:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-17T18:33:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"489\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgedsilv\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ed Silverstein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/\",\"name\":\"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Bills Still Face Hurdles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-14T20:22:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-17T18:33:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\"},\"description\":\"Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":489},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legislation\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legislation\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Legislation Still Faces Hurdles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e\",\"name\":\"Ed Silverstein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Ed Silverstein\"},\"description\":\"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Bills Still Face Hurdles","description":"Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Bills Still Face Hurdles","og_description":"Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-04-14T20:22:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-17T18:33:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":489,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ed Silverstein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgedsilv","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ed Silverstein","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/","name":"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Bills Still Face Hurdles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-14T20:22:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-17T18:33:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e"},"description":"Proposals to expand gambling in Texas are slowly moving forward. But state politics experts say there are many stumbling blocks ahead.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/texas-cap.jpg","width":1000,"height":489},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/texas-sports-betting-destination-casino-legislation-still-faces-hurdles\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legislation","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legislation\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Texas Sports Betting, Destination Casino Legislation Still Faces Hurdles"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b3771b02527bcbda9af984b9b1ff098e","name":"Ed Silverstein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-6-1-96x96.png","caption":"Ed Silverstein"},"description":"Ed Silverstein is a senior reporter covering gambling law and crime news for Casino.org. Ed is an award-winning journalist with credits ranging from the Associated Press to American Lawyer Media. Ed joined the Casino.org news team in 2019 after decades of experience in legal reporting. His past reporting and editing assignments include Cowles Business Media, Columbia University Press, the Connecticut Post, and Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. Besides the law and its application to the gaming industry, Ed\u2019s areas of expertise span business, politics, education, and state and local government. Ed holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and master\u2019s degrees from Harvard and Yale. His professional awards include recognition from the New England Press Association and New England AP News Executives. Ed currently resides in Connecticut, where he enjoys photography and bowling in his spare time. Contact Ed at ed.silverstein@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/ed-silverstein","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgedsilv"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/ed-silverstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}