AUSTIN — After making strides in 2023, Las Vegas Sands hoped its big bet on casino gambling would pay off this legislative session, with lawmakers at least allowing voters to decide whether destination casino resorts should be allowed in Texas.
The momentum gambling expansion had going into this legislative session was blunted from the start.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate never gave casino gambling and sports betting much thought, and even one local government showed some skittishness about approving gambling in potential future developments.
Today the prospect of resort-style gambling palaces in Texas and wagering through sports-betting apps is as elusive as it’s been since the renewed push for gambling expansion began in 2021.
Not only do casino gambling and sports betting remain nonstarters in the Senate, where Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presides, the proposals lost ground in the House, too. Most of the 26 Republican newcomers in the House are against legislation that would expand gambling.
The push toward casino gambling and sports betting was also hurt by controversies surrounding the Texas Lottery, which appears to have avoided being shut down, but is undergoing significant reforms. Gambling critics asked if the state can’t control the lottery, how can it handle the more complex oversight needed for casino gaming?
Officials at Sands, who have poured millions into campaign donations, ads and lobbying teams in Austin and North Texas, have said they aren’t giving up.
“We’re happy with the progress we made this session,” Andy Abboud, a senior vice president at Sands, said in a prepared statement. “We have always said this will be a marathon, and we still strongly believe that destination resorts coming to Texas is inevitable, which is why we’re not going anywhere.”
The Texas Sports Betting Alliance, the group that includes the state’s professional teams in favor of mobile sports wagering, isn’t folding either.
“We’re disappointed Texans didn’t get the chance to vote to legalize sports betting this year, but we know it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Karina Kling, a spokesperson for the Sport Betting Alliance. “The fact is, Texans are already doing this, but through illegal, offshore operators. We’ll keep working to educate people on how legalizing sports betting in Texas would protect consumers and bring financial benefits to the state.”
Still, expanding gambling in Texas faces an even steeper climb , analysts say. But things could change over the years.
Republican political consultant Vinny Minchillo said the legislative session was dominated by issues like school choice, which meant gambling was never a focus.
“This was not the session for casino gambling or sports gambling,” Minchillo said.
Minchillo said he understood why Sands and gambling proponents want the issue before voters.
“If gambling got on the ballot as a constitutional amendment, it passes with no problem,” Minchillo said.
In February two brief resolutions were filed in the Texas House that would have amended the state Constitution to give future lawmakers the power to set the boundaries of gambling in the state:
- House Joint Resolution 134 by Rep. Sam Harless, R-Spring, would have given lawmakers the power to “authorize and regulate the placing of wagers on sporting events.” Sports wagering would be developed by existing sports teams, race tracks or sanctioned professional golf tournaments.
- House Joint Resolution 137 by Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, would have given the Legislature power to “authorize and strictly regulate casino gaming and sports wagering.” There could be no more than 10 new casinos in Texas, and it would be up to future lawmakers to determine where the casinos would operate.
The resolutions reflected a pared-down version of previous pro-gaming proposals. In 2023, Las Vegas Sands pushed a grandiose plan to build eight destination casinos in specific cities, including Dallas and Fort Worth, prompting squabbling from areas that were denied a piece of the action.
Legislation to establish sports betting in 2021 and 2023 also focused on specifics, such as partnerships between gaming companies and professional sports franchises or race tracks.
The simpler proposal to allow voters to decide the issue of expanded gambling and later working out the details was a tactical effort to capitalize on what polls show as strong public support for casinos and sports betting.
Even with the change in direction, pro-gambling forces faced tough odds for success.
There was strong opposition from Christian conservatives, a powerful faction in the Republican Party, and the most recent state GOP platform opposes “any expansion of gambling, including legalized casino gambling.” The Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, also opposes expanded gambling in Texas.
Recently the Senate has been the primary roadblock to expanded gambling, and Patrick says there still isn’t enough Republican support there to move legislation forward.
Proponents of sports betting and casino gambling were unable this session to find a Republican senator to carry a bill for their cause, and they say any future effort will require movement in the Texas Senate.
“The votes to expand gambling are not there,” said Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, who leads the Republican Senate Caucus. “For the vast majority of colleagues of mine in the Senate it’s a nonstarter. They just don’t view it as a serious proposal at this time for Texas.”
House Republicans who support expanding gambling say they are waiting on the Senate to move.
When asked when gambling expansion would gain traction, Geren shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he said. “The lieutenant governor has to decide whether he’s going to let it on the floor.”
Sands officials say the fight isn’t over.
“The legislation this session asked the legislature to simply put the issue to the voters to decide on as we know they want to bring destination resorts to Texas,” Abboud said. “We also have a clear understanding of where each member stands on our issue and the work we need to continue to do in the interim so that we can come back next session ready to get this on the ballot.”
While expanding gambling is a tough sell in the Senate, the House isn’t as welcoming to such proposals as it was in 2023.
Pro-gambling forces had a taste of success in 2023, when a constitutional amendment allowing sports betting was approved 101-42 by the Texas House, and a pro-casino amendment was supported 92-51.
Republican support has slipped since then, and nearly all of the 26 Republican freshmen — who ousted two Democrats and replaced 24 Republicans who retired or were defeated in last year’s primaries — actively oppose gambling or are focused on other issues.
Rob Kohler, a lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission-Baptist General Convention of Texas, pointed out that most of the new GOP members signed pledges against expanding gambling. Many sent letters to leadership insisting that gambling expansion should not be a legislative priority.
It wasn’t. House Speaker Dustin Burrow, R-Lubbock, who voted against the 2023 proposals, never prioritized it.
“The 2024 primaries was really the concrete sign that their argument wasn’t working in the state,” Kohler said. “After that election we knew with certainty that not only could they not get one through the Senate, but they didn’t even have the support to get it through the House.”
Proponents of gambling expansion also got a run for bad luck from the beleaguered Texas Lottery.
The Lottery Commission is embroiled in an April 2023 jackpot scandal, where an overseas entity bought over 25 million $1 tickets, giving it access to almost every possible number combination, to win $95 million.
A February $83.5 million jackpot is also under scrutiny. The sole winning ticket was purchased from an Austin lottery store connected to a courier. The woman who bought the ticket is suing the Lottery Commission, which has refused to pay her as the investigations into the jackpots continue.
Some lawmakers pushed to end the 33-year-old lottery, including Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood.
When there were not enough votes to abolish the lottery, Hall authored the compromise and reform bill passed by both chambers.
“The lottery is a simple program, and if corruption and addiction can invade it the way that it did, what in the world will we have with the addiction that will come when we have sports betting and TV betting and internet betting and casinos?” Hall asked.
Previous proposals that would have allowed sports betting put oversight with the Lottery Commission. Under the bill awaiting Abbott’s signature, lottery functions would be moved under the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
“Texas does not want to turn into Las Vegas. Gambling attracts a culture of corruption,” Hall said.
Sands and gambling proponents had losses outside of the Legislature. In March, Irving removed the term “gaming” from the rezoning of the old Texas Stadium site now owned by Sands.
It appeared the company was trying to pursue a stadium and casino complex for the Dallas Mavericks, even though gambling expansion has not been approved by the Legislature or Texas voters.
In December of 2023 Mark Cuban sold his majority stake in the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, who controls Las Vegas Sands.
In her first legislative cycle since taking control of the Mavericks, Adelson spent at least $14 million on Texas political donations in 2024, with most of the money going to two political action committees that sent donations to lawmakers, candidates and other political committees across Texas.
Minchillo, the Republican political consultant who in 2024 worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign, expects Adelson to continue to pump campaign money into Texas, but perhaps get more aggressive against candidates who don’t support expanding gambling.
“Certainly the folks at Sands spent plenty of money in the primaries supporting candidates. I imagine they will do it again in 2026,” Minchillo said.
Mike Lavigne, a consultant who works on gambling issues, said the push to expand gambling needed more cohesion between gambling interests across Texas. With Sands operating a near one-group show, it’s going to be hard to move legislation through the Legislature.
“This effort definitely lost ground, but blaming Dan Patrick lets a dimly conceived strategy off the hook,” he said. “There has yet to be a consensus among the groups supporting gambling expansion. Without consensus, nobody is going to want to take a hard vote.”
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