Dan Patrick has announced he'll seek another term as Lieutenant-Governor of Texas
Patrick has long been a staunch opponent of the legalization of gambling in the state
Texas doesn't offer any legal form of casino gambling or sports betting
While public opinion polls suggest that Texans would like some form of legalized gambling in the Lone Star State, Dan Patrick continues to insist that they don't.
As Lieutenant-Governor of the state, Patrick is the second-most powerful government official in Texas. He's remained steadfast in his staunch opposition to the legalization of gambling in the state. And it would appear that he isn't going anywhere.
Patrick is planning to run for another term as Texas Lieutenant-Governor in the 2026 election. In Texas, the Lieutenant-Governor serves a four-year term. That would leave Patrick, if re-elected, in office through 2030.
Oddly enough, Patrick used a gambling term when announcing his plans to seek re-election.
"I’m all in," Patrick said. "I’ve always been all in."
Patrick has stymied all attempts in Texas to legalize gambling
Patrick was the driving force putting a halt to a 2023 attempt to legalize sports betting in Texas. In his government role, he also serves as President of the State Senate. That enables him to wield plenty of legislative power to prevent items he doesn't like from moving forward.
House Bill 1942 proposed the legalization of mobile sports betting across the state. The bill passed easily through the Texas State House by a vote of 100 to 43. However, the bill stalled in the State Senate. It never came to a vote before the end of the legislative session. The bill died on the Senate floor.
A second attempt to move a similar bill forward earlier this year never even got a hearing before the state legislature. Bill
HJR134
sought to put the question of whether the public wanted sports betting and casino gambling as a referendum on the November 2026 ballot. To legalize gambling in Texas, it would require changes to the state constitution.
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Texas Governor Abbott seems to be a supporter of gambling
Strangely, while Patrick continues his opposition to the legalization of gambling, the one man in the state who holds more power than Patrick appears to be changing his stance on the subject.
Greg Abbott, the Republican Governor of Texas, recently stated during an appearance on
Texas: The Issue Is
podcast that he doesn't view legalized gambling as a non-starter.
"I don’t have a problem with online sports betting,” Abbott said. “I’m not standing in the way of legislation moving forward, and I wouldn’t rule out signing [a sports betting bill] into law.”
That's a polar opposite viewpoint from the one held by Patrick.
“I've said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming from Senate GOP,” Patrick posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “I polled members... nothing changed.
"The Senate must focus on issues voters expect us to pass. We don’t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support.”
His opinion flies in the face of gathered data. A 2021 poll about the legalization of gambling in Texas found that 43% of Texas residents were in favor of legalization. Only 26% stated their opposition, while 31% were undecided.
With 30.3 million people, Texas is the second-largest US state in terms of population, holding 9.8% of the country’s people.
Powerful Texans behind pro gambling lobby
The people who are seeking to get gambling legalized in Texas are among the most prominent movers and shakers in the state. They include Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones; Dallas Mavericks owner Tilman Fertitta, who is also the owner of the Golden Nugget casinos and the Houston Rockets; Las Vegas Sands Casino operator Miriam Adelson; and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.
They have banded together to form the Sports Betting Alliance, a powerful pro-gambling lobby. Still, they've not been able to outmaneuver Patrick.
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