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The hopes of Texas sports betting arriving later this year are now dead in the water. Countless people in the Lone Star State are devastated these days, as there was plenty of hope last month. A new sports betting bill actually was passed in the House, with a 101-42 vote. This had people excited about things potentially reaching a new level. However, that Texas sports betting bill officially died in a legislative session.
This is a bummer for so many different reasons. For starters, there was plenty of buzz after things passed in the House. This proved that there’s a ton of support and excitement for this project moving forward. For former Governor Rick Perry, he was surely quite disappointed that things weren’t able to get across the line. Perry was pushing for things to get done, but in the end, everything ended up being a waste of everyone’s time. Unreal.
“We know that Texans want the freedom and liberty that our great state is known for, to participate in sports betting legally and safely. We listened to the people and put forth legislations that would combat the $6 billion illegal market with common sense regulation and protect Texans without growing the size and scope of government,” Perry said. “Texans deserve the chance to vote on legalizing sports betting and we will continue working to put this initiative on the ballot in 2025.”
The potential for Texas sports betting is through the roof. There are professional teams all over Texas, with team owners continuing to voice their support for legalization one day arriving. Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones and others have been eyeing sports betting at their respective teams’ stadiums at some point down the road. For now, though, Cuban, Jones and Co. will have to wait a while to see if things can get done.
A statement from Gov. Rick Perry through the Texas Sports Betting Alliance in regards to the failed Texas sports betting initiative bill: pic.twitter.com/mxi0AO24bu
— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) May 29, 2023
Texas sports betting won’t arrive until 2025 at the earliest
Now that things are off the table for 2023, Texas sports betting won’t arrive until 2025 at the earliest. There won’t be another hearing on sports betting in 2024, which is why it was so important to try and get things done for this fall. Instead of people being able to vote on things, it all ended up getting shut down instead. With football teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, in OTAs right now, the excitement for the new campaign could not be higher.
People would have loved to check the NFL betting odds for the Cowboys and others if things would have been legalized in November or December. There would have been a quick turnaround to get things rolling in Texas had things been pushed through in the coming months. However, this recent news has the state back to square one. While 2025 is the next target date, no one knows if things will get done then either.
It’s fair to say that the optimism for Texas sports betting has to be at an all-time low right now. People indeed were excited when things passed in the House. At that point, it felt like this latest bill finally had some legs and it would get approved by people in the senate. Instead, those lawmakers and officials in charge have set sports betting back by two years thanks to this rough decision that has come in.
No one can argue that sports betting in Texas has the potential to be worth billions when it does come. In the USA, more than 30 states – and almost 40 – have legalized sports betting. Texas, Florida and California are the biggest states yet to legalize things, which is truly unreal. For Texas in particular, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and college sports would all be huge betting options for fans. It’s time for officials to wake up and see this.
Just your 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ draft class on a mission to #EarnTheStar 😤😝🤘⭐️ pic.twitter.com/IEA0x9OrND
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) June 2, 2023
Illegal betting on the NFL will continue this fall in Texas
With all of that said, illegal betting on the NFL will continue this fall in Texas and this is something that must have officials furious. Right now, there’s a ton of excitement surrounding the Cowboys, the biggest NFL team in the state. However, you also can’t forget about the Houston Texans, as there’s a lot of potential for this team thanks to No. 2 overall pick CJ Stroud now getting ready to run the offense.
While neither the Cowboys or Texans have strong Super Bowl odds, you never know what they might be able to get done this campaign. With Dallas in particular, there will be a ton of pressure on quarterback Dak Prescott to step up and help America’s Team make some noise in the postseason – if they advance that is.
Right now, the Kansas City Chiefs have the top Super Bowl betting odds, but teams like the Bills, Bengals, Eagles, Ravens and others are hoping to make a big-time impact as well. People are going to be betting on things all over the country, but if you want to do so in Texas, you’ll have to do it illegally. Unfortunately, this will be the case until at least 2025. Again, this is a huge bummer for the local citizens.
