Texas concludes 2024 among a dwindling number of states without legal sports betting. Failed legalization efforts in 2023, and the lack of a legislative session in 2024, left little movement toward breaking the prohibition.
Still, proponents are gearing up for another legalization push in 2025. Part of that groundwork was laid in 2024.
Sports Betting: 2024 Highlights
March 6: Though 2023 legislation efforts fell short, BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt reaffirmed that he believes Texas still has a good chance to approve sports betting, especially compared to California.
March 29: Several months after acquiring the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban, Las Vegas Sands' Miriam Adelson filed petitions to bring a casino to the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area; the effort ran parallel to efforts backed by Cuban and other high-profile Texans to bring legal sportsbooks to the state.
May 3: DraftKings CEO and founder Jason Robbins joined the chorus of leading sportsbook operators planning to back a Texas sports betting push in 2025; DraftKings posted job listings for Austin-based lobbyists later in the year.
June 19: The Dallas Cowboys signed a deal with Aristocrat Gaming, one of the nation’s leading slot tech providers; the Cowboys had prior deals with Oklahoma’s WinStar casino along the Texas border.
Oct. 9: Be it 2025 or in years to come, Sands lobbyists declared Texas casino gambling is “inevitable” in the firmest language yet that the Lone Star State will see an end to its long-standing gambling prohibitions.
Oct. 17: Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner, again reiterated support for legal sports betting in Texas.
Nov. 6: Legal gambling hopes took a potential hit after Republican Adam Hinojosa defeats Democratic incumbent Morgan LaMantia to win a state Senate seat; though Hinojosa did not directly address his gambling positions during the campaign, he ran as a Christian conservative and will likely join the block of Republican colleagues opposed to gambling expansion.
Nov. 13: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told Covers he expects Texas to legalize sports betting in 2025.
Nov. 20: A study from gaming industry research firm Eilers & Krejcik projected $360 million in annual tax revenue, $24.3 million in non-gaming taxes, 8,000 new jobs and an overall economic impact of $2.6 billion for Texas if the state legalizes sports betting.
Dec 13: Ahead of the 2025 session, state Sen. Carol Alvarado filed legislation that would allow Texas voters to approve casino gaming and sports betting on the 2026 ballot.
Sports Betting: Where Things Stand
The 2024 flurry of industry, politician and lobbying support for legal sports betting runs against the entrenched political difficulty of bringing sports betting (or any gambling form) to the Lone Star State.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who through his role runs day-to-day operations of the state Senate, has said he will not take up any gambling bill without majority support from the Republican caucus. More than half of the caucus has publicly opposed gambling, making this an arduous task.
Gaming bills, including sports betting authorization, passed out of the state House with widespread bipartisan support in the prior legislative session. But the Senate roadblock has led the House to back away from a similar push in 2025.
Sports Betting: What's Next?
Sports betting stakeholders, including Adelson, will give a full-court press in the statehouse in 2025. It seems unlikely it will overcome conservative opposition.
Supporters have argued that putting sports betting approval through a ballot measure will absolve politicians of any constituent backlash for gambling support. Industry stakeholders in other state legislatures have said that risk is minimal to begin with, and studies show Texans largely back gambling.
?? Texas gambling isn't a matter of if but when, Caesars New Orleans GM Samir Mowad said today during a legislative hearing on a Louisiana sports betting tax increase bill; Louisiana would be one of the states most impacted by Texas casino and/or sports betting legalization
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) November 13, 2024
But that doesn’t seem enough to overturn decades of Republican antagonism towards regulated gambling. Progress could be made in Austin this year, but proponents may have to wait until at least the 2027 session – and/or a major political shift in the state Senate – until any tangible progress can be made.
Sports Betting: Notes and Quotes
-- Las Vegas Sands lobbyist Andy Abboud, referencing the NCAA conference that lost all but two of its members last year. Current proposals would set Texas as the nation’s highest-grossing legal sports market, ahead of New York and Florida. California is the only other state with more full-time residents
"Just think if we had that money here in Texas, think about what that could mean for so many things for us that are important to Texans."
-- Dallas Cowboys wner Jerry Jones on bringing legal sports betting to the state.
