Texas should legalize sports betting, former Gov. Rick Perry says

AUSTIN — Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants the state to legalize sports betting, a move lawmakers have yet to support widely.
The issue will be up for debate during next year’s legislative session, which begins Jan. 10.
Perry, who served as governor from 2000-2015, released a video this week for the Sports Betting Alliance, a collective that includes prominent sportsbook operators and all of Texas’ major teams.
“Texas is built on the core principle of individual freedom, and we pride ourselves on being an economic powerhouse in the nation,” Perry said in the video. “Legalizing mobile sports betting in Texas will finally allow the state to protect consumers from illegal offshore betting sites while keeping the money generated from betting in Texas to benefit Texans.”
Perry said Texans are crossing state lines to place bets online or in person in Louisiana, one of around 30 states where the practice is legal.
“Texas continues to fall behind,” he said. “Neighboring states are already cashing in on Texans’ bets.”
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones organized the alliance to push sports betting legislation during the last session in 2021. There were two bills to legalize only sports gambling and two that would have also allowed four casino resorts to be built in Austin, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Houston and San Antonio.
The bills effectively died when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate president, said sports gambling would not “see the light of day” during the session. He and Gov. Greg Abbott have been reluctant in the past to defy religious conservatives opposed to expanded gambling.
But Abbott has indicated he’s open to casino gambling, the Houston Chronicle reported last month. He and Patrick are under intense pressure to consider jobs and new tax revenue that a liberalization of Texas’ strict wagering laws could produce.
Late in this year’s election cycle, Jones donated nearly a million dollars to Abbott, Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, which some see as an attempt to win their support for sports betting legislation in 2023.
Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, is going to try again this session with SJR 17, a constitutional amendment.
Under her proposal, the Legislature could decide on whether to legalize sports betting and a newly created Texas Gaming Commission could issue casino licenses for up to four fancy “destination resorts,” with minimum investments of $2 billion in the Dallas and Houston regions; plus smaller-scale casinos at existing horse and dog racetracks and Indian gaming facilities.
A May 2021 poll by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler revealed that 57% of Texans support allowing casino gambling in the state.
But organizations such the Christian Life Commission have successfully lobbied against the legislation in previous sessions.
“As a dad of three boys, there’s enough worry about what can happen and what access, and what they can do through these little devices,” Rob Kohler, a consultant for the commission, told KXAS-TV (NBC 5).
Kohler told the station he does not think mobile sports betting has a better chance of passing this year, even with Perry’s support.
Austin bureau chief Robert T. Garrett contributed to this report.