DFW area professional sports franchises have united to help to form a coalition to help legalize sports betting in the state of Texas, per a report from the Dallas Morning News on Monday morning.
Per the report, the Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, as well as FC Dallas and the Dallas Stars, are all involved in helping to introduce a bill to allow Texans to vote for the right to reverse the state's sports betting ban.
Texas is one of 25 states in the US that has yet to legalize sports betting, along with California, Florida, Oklahoma, Massachusetts and Georgia, among others.
“Unregulated and illegal sports gambling is already taking place in the State of Texas,” Dallas Cowboys’ Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer, Charlotte Jones, told The Dallas Morning News, per the Sports Betting Alliance. “Legalized sports betting would regulate the industry and generate hundreds of millions of dollars of new revenue for the state which will help fund critical programs without raising taxes.”
The bill would allow for adults over the age of 21 to gamble, though the majority of the specific sports that would be permissible were not revealed. College sports would reportedly be allowed under the bill, however.
So how likely and how soon is this going to happen? That is a difficult question to answer. Texas is historically one of the least progressive states in the country in terms of gambling, leading some, including chairman of the Travis County Republican Party Matt Mackowiak, to believe that it could take some time before a bill of this type is passed.
Sports, however, could be the way to speed up the process.
“My view is that Texas is going to be one of the 10 last states to allow gambling,” Mackowiak said in the report. “I do think [sports betting] is a lighter lift, and it may be where they end up.”
Despite that, it is clear that millions of Americans, including in Texas, continue to bet on sports whether or not it is legally allowed in the state. Whether or not the state decides to capitalize on that fact, and create a legal avenue in which it can both be regulated and help the Texas economy, remains to be seen.
“Fans wagering on the outcome of sporting contests has been happening for years,” COO of the Texas Rangers Neil Leibman said in the statement. “It is time for sports wagering to come out of the shadows so it can be monitored and regulated.”