We’re two months away from the start of the legislative session, yet Texas sports betting is already on the minds of state lawmakers.

Sen. Carol Alvarado (D-6) pre-filed a bill (TX SJR17) to amend the Texas constitution to legalize gambling at a limited number of destination resorts and facilities licensed by a Texas Gaming Commission. Additionally, Texas sports betting will be legalized if the constitutional amendment is approved by two-thirds majority of the legislature and by state voters at the Nov. 7, 2023 election.

The Texas legislative session will commence on Jan. 10, 2023, and conclude on May 29, 2023.

Texas sports betting on the radar

Details in the pre-filed bill are scarce. It’s not clarified in the document if both retail and online sports betting will be legalized.

If approved, table gaming and slots would also be legal in the state. Alvarado’s bill sets a 10% tax rate on gross gaming revenue for table games and a 25% tax rate on gross gaming revenue for slot machines.

A sports betting tax rate was not set in the document.

If the bill is approved by more than 66% of Texas lawmakers, it will head to the ballot in November 2023 for approval by state voters. If approved by voters, it would likely mean Texas sports betting would launch sometime in 2024 after being signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R).

Texas sports betting in 2024?

For sports betting proponents, it’s an encouraging sight for a lawmaker to take an interest in legalized sports betting before the Texas session even begins. The legislature did not meet in 2022, so 2023 will be an important year if sports betting is legalized in the Lone Star State.

It’s not the first potential constitutional amendment attempting to legalize Texas sports betting. In 2021, State Rep. Dan Huberty (R-127) sponsored two bills, HB 2070 and HJR 97, which would have legalized sports betting and implemented a comprehensive online and in-person betting program for state gamblers.

Huberty’s bills implemented a 10% tax on sports betting. Fiscal estimates showed Texas would have likely seen a revenue stream of nearly $180 million during its first year of operation, with increasing revenues for the state when operations were at full speed. Sports betting tax revenues would have benefited Texas education.

Both bills stalled and did not receive a vote in either the Texas House or Senate before the end of the state’s 2021 legislative session.

Jerry Jones is a fan of sports betting

Legalized Texas sports betting also has a powerful ally in its corner, as Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones has previously said in interviews that the “handwriting is on the wall” for sports betting.

In a 2021 training camp interview with the Hang Zone on The Ticket Sportsradio 1310 AM/96.7 FM, Jones was asked point blank if he believed sports betting in Texas would one day be a common occurrence.

“Gaming, as it pertains to our game, is here. It’s frankly been here. But you’re talking about a different form of it, a more recognized form of it, a more sanctioned form of it. Yes I do. Without in any way not being sensitive to the great people that want to keep everything in the right way, but the handwriting is on the wall. Gaming has been here for a long time,” Jones said during the interview.

Jones said legalized and regulated Texas sports betting could be a boon for the game of football. Look at the way former Cowboys quarterback now CBS football announcer Tony Romo calls a game, he said. He can read a defense and inform viewers of plays before they happen, possibly potential scoring plays, which would intrigue people to bet on games they’re watching.

“He talks about how the safeties are too close to the hash, or the corner are too far in the middle or over on the hash. He’ll say the quarterback will see that, and the ball will be going over there in that direction. I picture right there millions of people making wagers right there by hearing that,” Jones said.