As football season is underway, people in 31 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico will likely place a record number of bets in the coming months.
A record 46.6 million Americans will bet on NFL games this season, up 3% from last year, according to survey results released last week by the American Gaming Association (AGA).
Texans are unable to legally wager on NFL games or any sporting events, as sports gambling remains illegal in the state.
Despite that, a high number of Texans still wager on sporting events. A recent Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) study estimates that 2 million illegal bets are placed in Texas each year, amounting to $8.7 billion in illegal wagers.
Betting through illegal backchannels leaves Texans unprotected from potential threats to their data and privacy, according to Cara Gustafson, a spokeswoman with the Texas Sports Betting Alliance.
“When you do these offshore bets, your data is compromised,” Gustafson said in an interview with The Dallas Express. “Like your bank information, your personal information. I’ve heard different stories where people place a bet through a website, and because it’s offshore, the next day, the website is completely gone, and they’ve lost their money.”
Although bipartisan bills to legalize sports betting have been drawn up and debated in the state, nothing materialized during Texas’ 2021 legislative session. The earliest possibility of sports betting becoming legal in Texas is the 2023 legislative session.
In 2021, HB 2070, authored by five state representatives, including Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville) and Jeff Leach (R-Plano), was brought before the Texas Legislature. It included provisions that would authorize both online and mobile sports wagering for Texas residents.
The bill failed to make it out of committee hearings.
Gambling is outlawed in Texas by a constitutional provision. That means any bill to legalize sports betting would need two-thirds support in the House of Representatives and Senate, and it will also need to be placed on a ballot and receive approval from voters.
Gustafson stated her group has spent the interim between legislative sessions educating Texas lawmakers on how legal sports betting would work in the state.
“We’ve been talking about the revenue that it could create; we’ve been talking about how consumers are being put at risk,” said Gustafson. “So, we’ve really taken this time to educate everyone about sports betting as much as we can.”
One industry expert believes revenue from legal sports betting in Texas could rival that of New York.
New Yorkers gambled $1.6 billion on mobile sports betting sites during January, the first month it was legal. With a staggering 51% tax rate, the state’s budget received nearly $58 million.
“Texas would be right up there,” Ben Fawkes, the vice president of digital content for the Vegas Stats and Information Network, told KCENTV. “It would be in the top three for sure and then probably one or two depending on adoption but it’s such a massive population base, it’s gonna be one of the biggest markets.”
A majority of Texans support expanded legal gambling, according to a March 2021 poll conducted by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler. The survey found that 57% of Texans support legal gambling in the Lone Star State.
Despite popular support for it, state leaders and influential advocacy groups remain against legal gambling in Texas.
Texas’ Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a February 2021 radio interview that Texas is “nowhere close to having the votes for [legalizing sports betting]… We don’t even have a bill that has been filed in the Senate on the issue.”
Groups against legal gambling cite the risks of addiction and negative family outcomes.
Texas Values is one advocacy group that opposes legalized gambling.
“We don’t support legalization of casinos in Texas. It’s not good for families and it’s not good for the economy,” Jonathan Covey, director of policy for Texas Values, told The Texan last year.
Robert Kohler, a lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission that represents the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said if sports gambling were legalized, it would “end up hurting the state more than it would end up helping it.”
“Folks that are getting elected are not going to their communities and saying, ‘If you send me to Austin, I’ll vote for casinos, or fantasy sports, or sports wagering,’” Kohler added. “Until that day comes, I don’t see the needle moving.”
Gustafson, with the Texas Sports Betting Alliance, said legalizing sports betting would provide for education to help keep people from developing gambling addictions and fund resources for those who become addicted.
Gustafson added that she would “bet” on sports betting becoming legal in Texas during the 2023 legislative session.
Her confidence matches that of Texas State Rep. Dan Huberty (D-Houston), who has authored bills to legalize sports gambling. Huberty gave the keynote speech at the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) Winter Meeting in Austin in December, and will retire prior to the next legislative session.
“I really believe there’s an opportunity here to pass sports betting in 2023,” Huberty said. “If you present it to the voters in the right way, it’s gonna pass. It will pass.”