Texas voters would decide whether to allow casinos in new proposal

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Advocates for legalizing casinos in Texas unveiled new laws Friday that makes a stronger effort to companion with horse-racing operators all through the state — a retooled method after their 2021 push came up short.

State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, filed House Joint Resolution 97, which would let voters decide in the November election if they need to legalize casinos. If accepted, gaming corporations may apply for licenses to construct seven high-end “destination resorts” throughout Texas, together with two in the Dallas-Fort Worth space and two in the Houston space.

Geren’s laws has the backing of Las Vegas Sands, the gaming empire that first got here to Austin two years in the past with a high-profile push to legalize casinos. Despite hiring a military of lobbyists and working tens of millions of {dollars} of TV advertisements, Sands didn’t get far on the Capitol, with its invoice receiving solely a committee listening to in the House.

Now, Sands is again with a proposal that goals to get extra buy-in from racetrack operators, that are influential on condition that they have already got a foothold in Texas. The 2021 laws would have allowed the operators to apply for second-tier licenses for “limited casino gaming.” The new proposal places them on equal footing with everybody else, eliminating the tiered licensing and letting them bid to construct the full-blown vacation spot resorts.

“It brings everyone together, by and large, that in some ways were divided last time. We have a much broader coalition of people behind this,” Andy Abboud, Sands’ senior vice chairman of presidency relations, stated in an interview.

Abboud added that the new proposal may “really revitalize the thoroughbred horse-racing industry in Texas,” stimulating not solely the tourism trade but additionally agriculture by way of elevated breeding.

In one promising signal for Sands on Friday, the Chickasaw Nation, which owns a racetrack outdoors Dallas, launched an announcement expressing openness to the on line casino proposal. The Oklahoma-based Native American tribe stated that it seems “forward to engaging with [the] Legislature about the economic benefits and tens of thousands of jobs destination resorts will bring to the Lone Star State.”

To be certain, the panorama for expanded playing on the Legislature stays dicey. While Gov. Greg Abbott and state House Speaker Dade Phelan have more and more warmed to it, the state’s different prime chief — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — has continued to throw chilly water on it. And the advocates for on line casino legalization are up towards one other faction that wishes to legalize sports activities betting, a much less formidable growth of gaming.

The Sands-backed invoice from 2021 would have moreover legalized sports activities betting, as would the proposal that Geren filed Friday.

Geren is a robust veteran of the House who chairs the Local and Consent Calendars Committee. While he was not the first creator of the on line casino invoice over the last session — that was Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin — he co-authored it and spoke on behalf of Kuempel at a committee listening to on the laws. Kuempel is anticipated to stay concerned in the on line casino push this session.

In the Senate, state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, has refiled the on line casino laws that Sands supported in 2021. But given the new method that the House laws takes, it seems uncertain Sands will push for Alvarado’s proposal as at the moment written.

Partnering with racetracks

Geren’s laws takes a new method by in search of to forge extra of a partnership with gaming operators who’ve already planted their flags in Texas, mainly horse-racing tracks.

Texas has had legalized wagering on horse and canine racing since 1987, when voters accepted it in a referendum. There have been 4 energetic racetracks in Texas final 12 months, in accordance to the state’s Racing Commission: Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Sam Houston Park in Houston, Retama Park outdoors San Antonio and the Gillespie County Fair in the Hill Country. There have been 5 different racetracks that have been inactive in 2022, all however one in South Texas.

The proposed decision would let any racetrack that was licensed as of Jan. 1, 2022, apply for a separate license to assemble a on line casino, both at its present website or elsewhere in its metropolitan space. Under the 2021 proposal, racetracks acquired solely the chance to apply for “limited casino gaming,” which was outlined as a facility with not more than “750 gaming positions, of which not more than 25 percent may be at table games.”

The new proposal additionally accommodates the racetracks extra by increasing the variety of “destination resorts” it envisions from 4 to seven. That is principally as a result of the newest laws permits for 2 resorts every in the Houston and Dallas areas, in contrast with one every in the 2021 invoice. This approach, each an present racetrack operator in the realm and an outdoor firm may construct casinos in the realm.

One similarity to the 2021 invoice is that candidates for on line casino licenses would nonetheless have to commit to a minimal funding to construct their casinos based mostly on the metropolitan space. It would be not less than $2 billion for the Houston and Dallas areas, not less than $1 billion for the San Antonio space, and not less than $250 million for the Corpus Christi and McAllen areas.

In one other new enchantment to racetracks, Geren’s laws would impose a 15% tax on gross on line casino income and divert an unspecified portion of it to function prize cash for horse racing. That would “promote the growth and sustainability of the horse-racing industry in this state,” in accordance to the laws.

The Sands group believes that the new emphasis on horse racing provides it a stronger case to make to rural lawmakers.

“It has much larger tentacles,” Abboud stated. “It’s not just massive development in urban areas. … It could make Texas one of the No. 1 horse-racing industries in the country.”

More broadly, Abboud stated he was “encouraged” by the political panorama for increasing playing this session. He stated he believed lawmakers are “becoming more comfortable” with the notion of letting voters decide the difficulty, and he famous that Abbott and Phelan have been expressing extra openness. As for Patrick, Abboud stated he didn’t see him as being a tough no however as wanting to see an indication of broad assist.

“We’ll always take a maybe over a no,” Abboud stated.

Disclosure: Las Vegas Sands Corp. has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded in half by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a whole list of them here.