SAN ANTONIO – Texas is one of just 12 states that have not yet legalized sports betting.
But in 2023, the Texas legislature made massive strides toward passage, giving optimism towards 2025. Now, experts are saying that next week’s election could play a big factor.
In the 2023 legislative session, the House passed a sports betting bill (HB 1942) — but it died in the Senate because of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and some of his Republican colleagues.
“Could you get a critical mass to be able to get it through the House again? I think you could,” UTSA political scientist Jon Taylor said. “The problem, again, is Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in the State Senate,”
The roadblock in the Senate won’t be easily broken either. There are about 16 Senate races going on in this election, but nearly all of them are likely to be held by the incumbent party. Only one, Senate District 27 which is currently held by the Democratic incumbent Morgan LaMantia.
“It’s really just about a dozen senators in the State Senate that are really kind of stopping this,” senior editor at Covers.Com Ryan Butler said.
Butler says there are some paths to passage for sports betting in Texas, though, especially if Former President Donald Trump wins re-election.
“If Donald Trump wins the presidency, there’s a decent chance Dan Patrick ends up in the administration,” Butler said.
But according to Taylor, the Senator that would replace Patrick wouldn’t be in favor of sports gaming any more than his potential predecessor.
“The guy that’s going to be replacing, potentially, Patrick, is someone who is adamantly opposed to casino gambling and to online gaming,” Taylor said.
The presumed Senator who would take over for Patrick if he was to leave to be part of Trump’s cabinet is Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Bastrop).
Taylor says that over the years, lawmakers have been becoming more and more open to gaming bills. Partially, because many of their campaigns are funded by donors from the gaming industry.
“What’s interesting, though, is if you look at the members of the State Senate, the Republican members, there are some that are getting donations from casino groups, from gaming groups,” he said.
Taylor says the House side could see some swings this year with possibly five or six Democrats flipping seats formerly held by Republicans, including districts 118 and 121 here in San Antonio.
But Taylor adds that the way the state elections are shaping up, it’d take a huge swing for sports betting to have a chance to pass in 2025.
“I put the odds at much less than 50% probably closer about 30% maybe 25% maybe even lower,” Taylor said.
“Texans love to gamble, and they love to elect lawmakers to prevent them from doing so,” Butler said.