LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – As lawmakers work in Austin, some Texans are hoping the 88th legislature will be their lucky session, where multiple gambling and sports betting bills have been filed.
The new bills would open the door for casinos in Bexer, Dallas, El Paso, Galveston and Harris counties. They would also create a new Texas gaming commission and allow for retail sports betting.
Lubbock state Rep. Carl Tepper says he’s against the filings.
“If you legalize gambling in Texas, there’s always some sort of regulation that has to happen,” Tepper said. “Which means state agents, state bureaucracies – and I just don’t know why we would want to deal with all that infrastructure when you can just take a direct flight from Lubbock to Las Vegas anyway.”
In terms of revenue, Tepper says Texas’ more than $30 billion surplus shows the state is fiscally on the right track, and revenue from casinos and sports books have not been a saving grace for any state.
www.kcbd.com/2023/02/10/texas-gambling-state-lawmakers-consider-gaming-bills-88th-session/