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We’re days away from the start of NFL season, and all the NFL betting that Cole’s with it. Per tradition, the Super Bowl-winning team kicks off the season. That’s the Philadelphia Eagles, of course.
Philly starts Week 1 early September against its heated rival, the Dallas Cowboys. They are seven-point favorites at top offshore sportsbooks, and it’s sure to draw a heavy dose of legal sports betting.
And illegal too, especially in states like Texas where offshore sportsbooks thrive — and we mean thrive! The Lone Star State is one of 11 remaining states without some form of legal sports betting. This has forced Texans into alternative betting, some of which is legal, some of which isn’t. Let’s go down this wormhole, shall we?
Texas Offshore Market Is One Of Biggest Around
No one knows for sure how much money is swirling around the offshore world in Texas, however, there are some good guesses. Take the Texas Sports Betting Alliance — which is composed of franchises like the Cowboys, but also the San Antonio Spurs and Austin FC. They peg the illegal betting market at $7 billion. Obviously, that’s not chump change. It’s money Texans are already spending, just without any oversight or tax benefit to the state.
And let’s be honest, that $7 billion figure is probably soft. It doesn’t account for Texans driving across state lines to place bets in Louisiana. It doesn’t capture cash games happening under the table. Heck, it doesn’t account for prediction market betting, which is the hot new thing. It’s simply a snapshot of what’s somewhat visible offshore. If anything, the real Texas betting number is higher.
For context, let’s look at New York sports betting. They legalized mobile betting in 2022 and handled $19.2 billion in wagers their very first year. By 2024, that number jumped to $22.7 billion, and projections put 2025 closer to $27 billion. Keep in mind, New York’s population is much smaller than Texas. Yet their market exploded the second it went legal.
Now imagine Texas flipping that switch. With nearly 32 million people, and a sports culture that lives and dies by the Cowboys, Longhorns, and Astros, the numbers would be staggering. If Texans bet anywhere close to what New Yorkers did per person, the market could hit $18 to $20 billion in year one. That’s not some far-off projection — it’s table math based on what’s already happening elsewhere.
The point is simple. Texans are already betting. They’re just doing it in ways that don’t benefit the state and sometimes don’t protect the bettor. Offshore sportsbooks thrive because lawmakers won’t move. And until they do, billions will keep leaking out of Texas with nothing to show for it.
Famous Cowboys Fan Gets Creative With Bet
Dallas has a legion of fans. They are “America’s Team”, after all. But one of its biggest fans — quite literally — is Shaquille O’Neal. He recently went viral for making a non-money bet on the Cowboys to win their Week 1 game. Here’s the direct quote from the big man:
“If the Cowboys don’t win, I’ll wear that Charles Barkley dress on The Strip,” O’Neal said on his podcast. “I will wear that dress in front of my restaurant at the Paris Hotel.”
By Charles Barkley dress, Shaq means the garb that his TNT co-worker wore on an infamous Weight Watchers commercial. Barkley looked hideous when he wrote it on national television, and surely, Shaq will be just as bad — if it happens. But that’s a big if.
Shaq previously bet something silly on his Cowboys to beat the Eagles. This was in 2015 against Rich Eisen, actually, and O’Neil promised to wear a Cowboys cheerleader outfit if Dallas were to lose. They did 33-27 in overtime without Tony Romo. But as far as we can tell, there’s no evidence Shaq ever wore the outfit.
So this is likely Shaq just spewing nonsense on his podcast to get clicks, but hey, we’re confident there are legit Texas bettors that have to resort to ridiculous wagers like this in the absence of real sports betting in Texas.
Will Legal Sports Betting Ever Come To Texas?
Despite all that betting happening in the shadows, Texas still hasn’t moved closer to legalizing it. Sports betting advocates —remember, that includes heavy donors like Miriam Adelson, owner of the Mavericks — have pushed hard in recent legislative sessions. Bills have died quietly in committee. Nothing has made it to the governor’s desk. It’s maddening to watch, especially when the revenue numbers are staring lawmakers right in the face.
And now we’re looking down another one-and-a-half-year waiting period. Texas legislators aren’t scheduled to reconvene until 2027. That’s the earliest time sports betting can be brought up again. Meanwhile, fans aren’t slowing down; they’ll keep going offshore, crossing the state border, or schemes as goofy as Shaq’s “dress wager.”
Here’s the bottom line: football season kicks off in real life, but in Texas, the betting still isn’t there legally. Until lawmakers give in and pass a law, billions of dollars — and a whole lot of excitement — will flow elsewhere.
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