TEXAS BUREAU

Top Texas sports team executives make another push for betting legislation

Leaders of the Cowboys, Rangers, Astros, Texans, Spurs, Rockets and other teams say Texans are at a disadvantage without legalized sports betting.

John C. Moritz
Corpus Christi Caller Times
Shawn Harnish, of Boston, places a sports bet at a kiosk at Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. Legislation that would allow legal wagering in Texas on athletic events faces daunting odds in the state Senate.

AUSTIN — With legislation that would allow legal wagering in Texas on athletic events facing daunting odds in the state Senate, the top executives of the state's 11 major professional sports franchises are making a united pitch to legislative leaders to send the proposal to the voters.

"By Texas not having legalized sports betting it disadvantages our fans compared to sports fans in other states that are protected by regulation and given the freedom of opportunity to legally bet," the executives said in a letter delivered Tuesday to House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

"Ultimately, (the proposed measures) protect Texans from the illegal, foreign sports betting market that is operating unregulated in Texas," the letter adds. "These bills provide a fair and responsible system of permitting and taxation for operators and the proposed legislation has best practices from other states that will maintain the integrity of Texas professional sports."

The House State Affairs Committee this month approved a proposed constitutional amendment to allow wagering on sporting events. The committee also approved the legislation needed to set the parameters for how the betting process would take place. The measures have not yet been set for debate by the full House.

More:Will Texas legalize online sports betting? Here's what some lawmakers are proposing.

While the House committee's action keeps alive prospects for a vote in the lower chamber, the Senate's companion legislation remains stalled. And Patrick, the three-term Republican who sets the Senate's agenda, has said it appears likely the measures will remain bottled up in his chamber.

More:Gov. Greg Abbott: Sports betting 'just a form of entertainment'

Although senior Republicans are carrying the measures — Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham in the Senate and Plano's Jeff Leach in the House — Patrick has said there's not enough overall Republican support in the Senate to justify moving the legislation forward.

Republicans control the Senate with a 19-12 majority, and Patrick has been loath to move legislation that might be pushed across the finish line primarily by Democrats.

"The Republican platform is against it; the conservative base is against it — not all but a lot," Patrick said in a recent interview. "The church communities, a lot of business people are against it."

Phelan, a Beaumont Republican in his second legislative session at the helm of the House, has signaled that he is open to allowing a vote on gambling legislation in the chamber. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican in his third term, has called sports betting "just a form of entertainment" and said he would not stand in the way of the measures in either chamber.

The teams represented by the executives who signed the letter are the Dallas Cowboys, the Houston Texans, the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros, the Houston Rockets, the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Stars of the NHL and the professional soccer franchises in Austin, Dallas and Houston.

Staff writer Ryan Autullo of the Austin American-Statesman contributed to this report.

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.