Texas looks like it will be the lone sheep in the US as Gov. Dan Patrick opposes sports betting legalisation

Sports betting and gambling will not be legalised anytime soon in Texas. During an interview with the Chad Hasty Show, Governor Dan Patrick (pictured) stated that he is not a fan of gambling and believes that any Bills pushed forward to legalise it will crash and burn.

Many lawmakers around the US looked to sports betting as another source of generated revenue to counter the economic dive experienced due to the pandemic. The results have paid off as a number of states such as Indiana, Michigan and Iowa all registering record numbers.

Legislators in Texas are still trying to push for gambling and sports betting legalisation as they too see it as a quick fix for their economy. However, Gov. Patrick thinks that the chance of this happening is extremely low and the industry will fail to gain any traction.

This is quite difficult to believe when other states are generating revenues worth hundreds of millions. With the likes of Iowa ($150million- Jan 2021), Indiana ($347.3million – Jan 2021) and New Jersey ($996million- Dec 2020) all benefitting from sports betting with high monthly revenue numbers.

State Rep. Joe Deshotel and State Sen. Roland Gutierrez have filed bills looking to allow casinos to operate in Texas.

However, Gov. Patrick thinks that tax revenue generated by sports betting is not a long term solution for Texas as the tax revenues will only amount for a small fraction of their budget.

With Gov. Patrick’s views, Texas looks like it will lag behind the rest of the US as many of the states are looking to legalise the sports betting verticals in a bid to boost their economies.

From recent revenue reports by a number of states, the decision to legalise online gambling and sports betting looks like it is paying off and although Gov. Patrick claims that sports betting revenue will only make up a fraction of their budget – it is still aiding their budget.

One would think that Gov. Patrick should take what he can during such a turbulent time and the pandemic hitting the US hard, especially when Texas is home to major sports teams such as the Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Cowboys.

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