Texas Sports Betting Looks Dead Until at Least 2023

Peter LewisPeter Lewis | July 4, 2022
Texas Sports Betting Looks Dead Until at Least 2023

The disappointing but expected news on Texas Sports Betting has come in, as it’s looking like no miracle will be taking place later this year. Matter of fact, things are just about buried in that regard, as a new update has stated that Texas Sports Betting looks dead until at least 2023, though it’s very much in the air if something even gets done by next year. What’s with the holdup? People in legislation simply can’t get on the same page here.

According to a report from the New York Post, no launch of legal betting in the Lone Star State will be going down in the coming months. That has officially been wiped out. Looking ahead to next year, though, there’s some promise that potentially something can get done, but people aren’t holding their breath there either. The issue really is that the right-leaning state appears to be pretty against trying to get something done.

Having said that, popular politician Beto O’Rouke has come out in support of legal sports betting multiple times. As we’ve stated on MyTopSportsbooks before, this caused a big of a division among his supporters. Half the people appear to be in favor of legalizing sports betting, while the other half couldn’t be more against this. This seems to be the trend across Texas as a whole, which has been tough to see.

If you ask O’Rourke, though, there’s simply no excuse for sports betting to not be present in the state. He understands the millions of dollars in terms of revenue that would be on the table for the state to take advantage off. Well, O’Rourke and others will have to wait longer than expected to try and take advantage of things.

Betting must be in place for 2023 NFL season

It goes without saying, but betting must be in place for 2023 NFL season, otherwise people are going to go into a panic. The hope obviously was that betting would be legal for this year’s campaign, as plenty of people are ready to see what the Dallas Cowboys will be able to get done. There aren’t high expectations for the Houston Texans, but fans still would have checked out the NFL odds to place their bets on them.

Now, though, people who check the best rated sportsbooks will only be teasing themselves a little bit, as no betting and no wagers will be allowed to go down. As we’ve mentioned, the illegal wagers will still take place, but that growing issue is something the Texas officials are trying to crack down on. Things got pretty bad last year and nothing is going to change unless new laws are put into place. Legal betting is No. 1.

While no bets will be made for this season, which is already providing plenty of intrigue, it will be unacceptable if things aren’t finalized at this point next year. Texas needs to make this happen because they are losing out on so much money. This is why O’Rourke is so passionate about it. At the same time, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has also voiced his support for betting in recent years too. He knows how big it can be overall.

Next year, and the year after that, sports betting on the NFL will be a venture worth billions of dollars. If Texas wants to get a piece of the pie, they need to shape up. People are going to be furious if they’ll have to keep making bets in different states on their favorite teams. Why should this be the case? No one has a good answer for that.

Dallas Cowboys odds keep dropping in the NFC East

Outside of legal sports betting, people are surprised in Texas that the Dallas Cowboys odds keep dropping in the NFC East. What really surprised a lot of people too is that the team traded Amari Cooper during the offseason to the Cleveland Browns. No one expected that to happen, but Brown is now in the AFC North, while Dallas will be relying on CeeDee Lamb to be the No. 1 receiver for the squad.

While Lamb is no question a great talent, and a former first-round pick, drops have been an issue for him in the past and he’ll need to correct that as soon as possible. Overall, the Cowboys have plenty of talent, but they haven’t been able to put things together in recent seasons. That will have to change in 2022.

On paper, the Eagles look to be their biggest competition to win the division. Jalen Hurts is a solid QB and he’ll now have A.J. Brown to throw too. Brown is a stud wideout and DeVonta Smith is ready to make a splash too. It’ll be a fun year in the division, but Dallas appears to be on the drop according to the bettors. Only time will tell if they’ll be able to prove everyone wrong. For people in Texas, they won’t be able to make legal bets on this team in 2022, though.

Peter Lewis

Peter Lewis Jr. comes from Mississippi where he and his family spend their days discussing college football and basketball. He's written sports journalism for years after studying journalism at a local university.