Dallas City Council members are debating whether the City should support the legalization of casino gambling in Texas.
During a meeting of the Economic Development Committee, chairman Tennell Atkins shared a memo outlining the proposed legislative priorities for the committee for 2025. The memo was drafted in response to a request by the chair of the legislative committee.
One of the priorities listed in Atkins’ memo was to “Expand business opportunities to grow the tax base and generate revenue streams for city priorities, including but not limited to authorization, licensing, and regulation of casino gaming and sports wagering in this state.”
The introduction of the topic ignited a debate among committee members about whether the city council should support casino gambling being legalized by the Texas Legislature.
Council Member Paul Ridley said this “controversial issue … should not be added lightly to our list of legislative priorities.”
“I personally have the position opposing that because I think it results in a tax on the poor, so I’m not in favor of encouraging our legislature to legalize casino gambling,” he said.
However, other officials argued that Dallas should support gambling legalization as it would provide additional tax dollars to the City.
“It would make our police and fire pension systems more sustainable statewide,” said Council Member Adam Bazaldua, with Council Member Chad West supporting Bazaldua’s argument. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System has been underfunded for years, with an estimated $3.5 billion in unfunded liabilities.
Council Member Omar Narvaez added that he also supports the legalization of casino gambling.
“This is a hard one because it does affect lower-income people, but at the same time, I’m also in the camp that doesn’t want to dictate to people what they can and can’t do with their money,” he said.
Bazaldua asserted that legislation should also include language that restricts casinos to “major cities” because of the additional tax revenue they can provide.
“It’s large cities like Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, [and] Austin that could actually support this type of entity and be able to make sure it stays safe for everyone that attends,” he said.
However, Council Member Carolyn King Arnold said it is “not wise” to “rush” this item and expressed concerns about the impact casino gambling would have on lower-income Dallas communities and public safety across the City.
“I think it would be disrespectful to our taxpayers to jump up with this particular project, and we can’t even have a legislative priority that puts the state in the same room with us to say, ‘Let’s try to feed the people that we are taxing,'” she said.
She added that city officials must “have a conversation with our public safety [departments]” about casino gambling.
“DPD needs to weigh in on this,” she said. “No matter what we put here, we want it to be safe for our communities.”
Council Member Kathy Stewart said she believes taking up this item as a legislative priority is “premature.”
“I have a lot of information I would like to see before I would want to move forward,” she said. “I think we would need to study other cities and see what some of the negative consequences are of gambling.”
She added that because of the potential impact of this item, it should be taken up at full council rather than merely in a committee.
As the debate continued among the committee members, Council Member Atkins made clear that this item was not yet up for a vote, and his memo merely introduced a discussion about casino legalization for committee members.
“We are talking about it for the first time. It’s a discussion. It’s a conversation. It’s not a priority right now. We’re not voting on this right now,” he said. “We’re not making a decision today. This is not going to the legislature today.”
Director of Government Affairs Carrie Rogers explained that the chair of the Dallas City Council Ad Hoc Committee of Legislative Affairs, Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, had requested that each committee submit priorities to be considered by the legislative affairs committee.
“What Mr. Atkins has in front of you today is the memo of proposed priorities that would be submitted for further consideration by the legislative committee and then ultimately, the full council,” she said.
Atkins noted that council members have plenty of time to meet with consituents, experts, and other elected leaders to inform their opinions about casino gambling before the council makes an official decision regarding the City’s position.
The next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs next meeting is scheduled for January 19.