WACO, Texas (KWTX) – As this year’s Texas legislative session rolls on, one of the many topics on the minds of members of the Senate and the House is legalized gambling.

“Texans love to gamble, they’re doing it every place else, but here,” said Senator Carol Alvarado, who represents Texas Senate District 6 in Harris County.

In November, Sen. Alvarado introduced Senate Joint Resolution 16, Which would allow for legalized gambling in the state of Texas.

The proposal would allow for seven casino resort locations scattered across some of the state’s largest metro areas, as well as the legalization of sports betting.

She says the goal is to diversify Texas’ economy by creating jobs in an untapped industry, in addition to adding an extra tax revenue stream for the state.

“We’re talking about people who would construct all of these venues,” said Alvarado.

“You’re talking about people that would work in the hotels, in the restaurant, in the casino. So this would be a real boost, I think, to our economy, creating thousands and thousands of jobs.”

One of the voices interested in this outcome is the Texas Sports Betting Alliance (TBSA) .

The group is comprised of several major sportsbooks as well as professional teams like the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Texas Rangers, and Houston Astros.

Karina Kling, a representative of the TBSA, says that despite having to travel to bet legally, Texans are already getting in on the action.

“Sports betting is taking place in Texas already, and a lot of that is un-regulated,” said Kling.

In research commissioned by the Sports betting alliance, gaming Firm Eilers and Krejcik gaming found that gaming could become a billion-dollar industry in the state.

Kling says they also found many Texans are already trying to place bets, although it is not yet legal.

“There were a million Texans who placed bets, and were turned away by a geolocation tracking service,” said Kling.

Currently, when Texans try to place their bets, they are confronted with a notification that denies their entry due to their location.

That is why she says regulation is key for protecting consumers.

“We know a lot of those are then going to some of these unregulated, offshore betting sites,” said Kling.

“With that, you’re not a protected consumer. We just want to make sure that, you know, your information isn’t being put out there, and that you are getting the payout of those bets. That’s what would happen if there was this regulated framework that was put in place for the sports betting market.”

Although legalized gambling is accessible to Texans by driving to Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico, bringing gaming to the lone star state would not come without a cost.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-partisan research institute that aims to equip lawmakers with the information necessary to make informed decisions.

Derek Cohen, their Chief Research Officer, published “The Costs of Chance” ,  a study on the implications of expanding gambling in the state of Texas using Ohio as a case study.

Ohio legalized casino gambling in 2009, before legalizing online sports betting in 2023.

“Taking that experience with how big Texas is now, extrapolating out what can we reasonably expect both on the upsides and the downsides,” said Cohen.

Using the rates at which Ohio taxes gambling, Cohen found that Texas could make 834 million dollars in tax revenue from the industry.

He also saw that after Ohio legalized gambling, the number of adults who were identified as risky gamblers grew, with over a quarter of a million residents being seen as “problem gamblers”, or gamblers with a severe addiction.

Since Texas has a larger population than the buckeye state, Cohen’s math says the number of problem gamblers in Texas could be in the ballpark of six hundred thousand people, with more than 4.5 million developing some type of addiction.

“4.5 million disordered gamblers of any stripe, that jumped off the page at me,” said Cohen.

“Just doing the back of the envelope math on that, for each disordered gambler of one of those 3 categories, the state would be bringing in about 184 bucks per head.”

Weighing the price of increased gambling addiction with nearly a billion dollars in profit is no small task, Cohen says when you compare that potential revenue to what Texas already spends in sectors such as education, that number begins to shrink quickly.

“Following the same disbursement method, we would have about 283 million go into the schools,” said Cohen.

“Now, that seems like a lot. The issue is, however, when you look at what that is, or what the state spends on schools over a year of about 93 billion. This, over a 365-day year, would get you to about Thursday on the first week. If you’re just counting in terms of instructional hours during the school year, this would cover until about third period.”

While it is up to lawmakers to weigh the greater cost of making extra cash, if the decision is made it is up to Texans to vote on a constitutional amendment.

“What this resolution is, is simply allowing voters to decide,” said Alvarado.

“We do expect lawmakers to introduce a constitutional amendment to allow Texans the ability to vote on this issue,” said Kling.

“That’s all we’re really asking. Not for lawmakers to have to make this decision, but to send it to voters in Texas.”

Copyright 2025 KWTX. All rights reserved.