Op-Ed: Texans Successfully Killed Casino Gambling, But the Fight Isn't Over Yet
Over the past six months, the Texas Capitol was flooded with lobbyists pushing to bring casino gambling to Texas.
They spent millions of dollars trying to convince lawmakers to support a constitutional amendment removing the state’s prohibition on casino gambling and welcoming Las Vegas-style casinos to the Lone Star State. Ultimately those efforts failed, but already pro-casino forces are saying they intend to continue pushing the proposal.
While bringing casinos to Texas might be a jackpot for casino operators, it would deal a bad hand to Texas communities by increasing crime and addiction and damaging Texas families.
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is the slogan everyone is familiar with hearing on TV commercials. They feature bright lights, fancy hotels and restaurants, and impressive shows. They paint the image that Las Vegas is a wonderful place to go on vacation.
What they don’t paint is the image that Las Vegas is a great place to raise a family. Indeed, Sin City doesn’t rank very highly in that regard.
Based on FBI data, Las Vegas has a crime rate higher than 90 percent of cities in the state of Nevada. The chance that a person will become a victim of a violent crime in Las Vegas — such as armed robbery, aggravated assault, rape or murder — is 1 in 205.
It’s for this reason and others that Nevada was recently ranked one of the worst states in America to raise a family by WalletHub.
Texas Family Project policy director Austin Griesinger says much of the crime in Las Vegas comes from casinos and argues legalizing casino gambling in the Lone Star State would lead to increased addiction, divorce and even homelessness.
“Casinos do incredible damage to every community they touch. At Texas Family Project, we want what happens in Vegas to stay in Vegas, not come to Houston, San Antonio, or Fort Worth,” Griesinger said. “We’ve been working to rally Texans across the state to reject casino gambling and keep out the crime, addiction, and brokenness that casinos would bring to our state.”
Multiple studies have backed up Griesinger’s claims about the increase in crime, and research shows gambling can be just as addictive as drugs and alcohol. As the Mayo Clinic notes, “Compulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy lives.”
The specific legislation Texas Family Project opposed, and ultimately helped to kill, was House Joint Resolution 155, a constitutional amendment that (if passed) would legalize casino gambling in Texas, allow up to eight casinos in the state, and create the “Texas Gaming Commission” to oversee the industry.
The main advocate for this legislation was the Texas Destination Resort Alliance, a group set up by the Nevada-based Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
Worth more than $20 billion, Sands was owned by casino magnate and political donor Sheldon Adelson. However, control of the company shifted to his wife, medical doctor and drug abuse treatment clinic operator Miriam Adelson, following his death in 2021.
In her former profession, Miriam Adelson was actually helping families heal from the destructive addictions that harm so many in society. Now, she is spending millions on lobbyists (100 of them, according to reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission) in an attempt to increase her company’s profits.
Efforts to bring casinos to Texas have long been opposed by the grassroots of the Texas GOP, which prevented Adelson’s lobbyists from altering the party’s platform to be more casino-friendly at the state convention and then engaged actively in the legislature to oppose gambling legislation.
In March, the Texas GOP unanimously passed a resolution exposing efforts to bring casino gambling to Texas, stating, “The Republican Party of Texas calls on all Republican Texas Legislators to cease and desist with any efforts to open the State of Texas to casino gambling.”
That resolution was followed up by a strong statement from Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi.
“Legal gambling will flood our state with crime and silence the power of the grassroots with millions in out-of-state special interest dollars, not to mention the burdensome federal oversight required. Conservatives from across the state must come together and oppose any casino expansion in Texas,” Rinaldi said.
Thanks to grassroots opposition, HJR 155 ultimately fell eight votes short of the two-thirds vote it needed to pass the Texas House. A bill to legalize online sports betting (HB 1942) did pass the House but was killed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who said there was not sufficient support for the measure in the state Senate.
I’ve said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming from Senate GOP. I polled members this week. Nothing changed. The senate must focus on issues voters expect us to pass. We don’t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support. HB1942 won’t be referred.…
— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) May 13, 2023
While efforts to legalize casino gambling in Texas may have died this session, many anticipate Adelson will continue to spend millions hiring lobbyists and working to entice Texans to give her the green light to expand into the Lone Star State.
Over the next two years, grassroots Texans will need to work even harder to convince lawmakers that Texas families are more important.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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