AUSTIN — Legalization of mobile sports betting in Texas would be on the November ballot under legislation the House finally passed Thursday.
A separate proposal to change the Texas Constitution to allow destination casinos awaited a final vote by the House late Thursday.
Though each bid to relax Texas’ strict anti-gambling laws faces an uphill path in the Senate, proponents of expanded gambling cheered when the measure to permit mobile sports betting narrowly got the two-thirds vote it needed to clear the House.
In recent sessions, measures to legalize more wagering haven’t even received votes in committee.
“I trust Texans to decide what’s best,” Plano GOP Rep. Jeff Leach, author of the sports betting measure, told colleagues.
Leach’s proposal would create a regulated market and let Texans legally wager on professional sports teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, which strongly supported its passage. So did mobile sports betting apps such as FanDuel and DraftKings.
On an initial vote Wednesday, the proposed constitutional amendment on sports betting received 97 votes. On Thursday, the House passed it and sent it to the Senate, 101-42.
Supporters applauded.
The destination casino proposal would let voters decide on Nov. 7 whether to permit eight resort-style gambling emporiums, with two reserved for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
House Speaker Pro Tem Charlie Geren, the Fort Worth Republican who is the constitutional amendment’s author, postponed a vote until 10 p.m. Thursday. That suggested his joint resolution, which fell eight votes short of the two-thirds required on Wednesday, was still not a sure bet to clear the chamber.
On Thursday, the House tentatively approved a casino-legalization enabling bill, by Seguin GOP Rep. John Kuempel, 63-49. It still needed a final vote to go to the Senate.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate’s presiding officer, remains a roadblock to both gambling plans.
Patrick has said there are not enough votes for either in the more socially conservative Senate.
In a March 28 interview with radio host Mark Davis, Patrick said he wouldn’t permit a gambling bill on the Senate floor unless it has strong Republican support.
For either gambling bill to pass the Senate, 21 members would have to approve. Currently, the Senate has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats.
Patrick said that if he knows more Democrats than Republicans will vote yes, he is not going to bring the bill to the floor.
“I need to have consensus by the Republicans; otherwise, it’s a bill that Democrats are passing,” Patrick told Davis. “We don’t do that in the Senate.”
Neither of the proposals has received a committee hearing in the Senate.
‘Not going anywhere’
On Wednesday, House lawmakers engaged in spirited debate as they debated the pros and cons of adding gambling in Texas. Some said there is broad support for adding more gambling options. Others, however, tried to inform coworkers that neither bill would go anywhere in the senate.
“This bill is not going anywhere,” said GOP Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano, a staunch opponent of expanded gambling. “This is dead.”
Ahead of this year’s session, casino company Las Vegas Sands hired scores of Austin lobbyists and donated millions in campaign contributions on both sides of the political aisle.
Gov. Greg Abbott has treaded cautiously, saying he was “open” to expanded gambling. House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, also expressed support for resort-style casinos.
Las Vegas Sands is backing Geren’s proposed constitutional amendment and the enabling legislation carried by Kuempel. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban previously told The Dallas Morning News that it’s his goal to build a new NBA arena within a destination resort, in a partnership with Sands.
“Let’s let our voters decide,” Geren said from the floor Wednesday.
His joint resolution included concessions to different members, such as adding one destination resort in Central Texas and another in the Rio Grande Valley. Under his plan, Houston gets two, while the San Antonio and Corpus Christi areas would each get one.
Members of both parties warned of downsides. Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, pointed out that the legislation “sets aside money because of problems it’s going to create,” a reference to how a slice of new tax revenue would go to funds for gambling addiction treatment.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio said he’s not a firm opponent of gambling but argued against both proposals.
“Let’s get some time to get this right,” Martinez Fischer said. “I’m not a ‘no,’ I’m a ‘not now.’”
Under Leach’s bill, Texas would join 35 states, along with Washington, D.C., in allowing sports betting.
Leach said his bill wouldn’t expand gambling, as Texans already place bets illegally by using offshore platforms or local bookies.
“Texans are going to continue to commit criminal behavior, unsafe behaviors, unsafe activity, unregulated activity every single day,” he said. “We have an opportunity now to put a framework in place to allow them to come out of the shadows.”
