Americans wagered an estimated $1.39 billion dollars on Super Bowl LIX, and that’s just legal bets, according to the American Gaming Association.

Betting, including on sports, is still illegal in Texas, but just days ago, Governor Greg Abbott expressed support for legalized online sports betting in Texas.

There’s also a broader push to legalize casino gambling. Advocates say Texas is missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars each year, but critics have a much different take.

Texas is home to two tribal casinos: Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel in Eagle Pass and in Southeast Texas, Naskila Casino in Livingston.

According to the American Gaming Association, those two Indian casinos in Texas support more than 20,000 jobs, have an annual economic impact of $4.8 billion and a tax impact that benefits governments to the tune of $483 million dollars a year.

Parking lots at casinos in Lake Charles are filled with cars that display Texas license plates. Louisiana Gaming Control has estimated in the past that Texans account for roughly 85 percent of business at casinos in Lake Charles.

Former state representative Joe Deshotel spent 22 years in the Texas Legislature. He pushed for casino gambling, authoring a bill in 2021 to allow casinos to open in nine Texas coastal counties, including Jefferson County, to generate money for windstorm insurance coverage.

“Could you see a casino on the Neches River?” KFDM anchor Aaron Drawhorn asked Deshotel.

“Well, we looked more in Port Arthur on Pleasure Island, sort of what was always talked about,” Deshotel said.

But Deshotel’s proposed constitutional amendment went nowhere with powerful voices that don’t approve of gambling.

“Normally, the reason is religion,” Deshotel told KFDM/Fox 4 News.

“I would think the people most opposed, should be most opposed to legalized gambling in Texas, would be Louisiana casinos. They’re the ones who would be most impacted by that,” Deshotel said.

The Las Vegas Sands Corporation has spent millions of dollars lobbying for casino gambling in Texas through the Texas Destination Resort Alliance. KFDM/Fox 4 News’ messages to that Political Action Committee seeking an interview were not returned.

“You want to create addicts in Texas? You bring in casinos,” said Les Bernal, national director of the non-profit Stop Predatory Gambling.

“There is no grassroots movement for casinos in Texas,” Bernal said.

KFDM/Fox 4 News asked Bernal about Texans traveling across the Sabine River into Louisiana to spend money on gambling.

“The whole going out of state argument is a phony narrative they push in every single state in our country. The equivalent of it, it’s losing a dollar in order to save a nickel. Who would do that in real life? Nobody,” Bernal said.

According to a report published in January by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, “Casino gambling offers a new source of revenue to state and local governments. However, casino gambling is associated with increased crime and personal dysfunction.”

“Texas has all the negative aspects of gambling, but we have none of the positive side of gambling,” Deshotel told KFDM/Fox 4 News.

Two years ago, then-House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont said he wanted to see destination-style casinos to create jobs and improve communities.

What would it take for the pro-gaming lobby to win the casino legalization debate?

They’d need approval of two-thirds of the members of both the Texas House and Texas Senate, then Texas voters would have to give the go-ahead by amending the Texas Constitution.