Effort to allow casinos falls short in Texas House

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The high-profile push to bring casinos to Texas this legislative session ended Friday after supporters acknowledged that they did not have enough votes to advance it out of the state House.

One of the authors of casino legislation, Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin, postponed consideration of his bill until Nov. 29, dooming its chances ahead of a midnight deadline to move it out of the lower chamber.

The development came a day after a separate proposal to legalize online sports betting made it out of the House by a razor-thin margin. That legislation faces long odds in the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has repeatedly downplayed the prospects of expanding gaming.

Both proposals landed in precarious positions earlier this week in the House when they cleared an initial hurdle but fell short of the 100 votes needed to receive final passage. The sports-betting proposal got 97 votes, while the casino legislation got 92.

Those votes sent gaming advocates scrambling to find additional support ahead of the Friday deadline. Sports-betting supporters pulled it off Thursday, winning 101 votes on a final vote that was so close it required a member-by-member verification.

But casino supporters could not round up enough support. They postponed consideration of their proposal three times Thursday as they tried to find 100 votes.

Both proposals have nonetheless made more progress than they did in the 2021 session, when gaming supporters first descended on Austin for a massive lobbying blitz. The casino legislation has been backed by the gaming empire Las Vegas Sands, while the sports-betting proposal has been spearheaded by a coalition of pro sports teams in Texas and wagering platforms.

Disclosure: Las Vegas Sands Corp. has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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