The Texas Sports Betting Alliance, a group comprised of professional Texas sports franchises, betting platforms, and one former governor, is planning to help craft a Texas online sports betting bill to be introduced in the state’s upcoming 2023 legislative session.

Cara Gustafson, a spokesperson for the Texas Sports Betting Alliance, told Saturday Down South the Alliance is confident the eventually introduced legislation will have the necessary votes in both the Texas House and Senate to be approved for the November 2023 general election ballot.

“We feel that the voting threshold is there to get this legislation on the ballot in November for the Texas voters and we are confident Texas voters themselves would vote in favor of legalizing mobile sports betting,” Gustafson told Saturday Down South.

The House and Senate authors of the bill have yet to be announced. More details on the bill will be announced at a later date.

Is Texas online sports betting actually a possibility in 2023?

While Gustafson did not provide specific details to the Alliance’s piece of legislation, she did say it will be similar to Rep. Dan Huberty’s (R-127) 2021 online sports betting bill. Huberty’s bill (HB 2070) attempted to legalize Texas online sports betting and set an online sports betting tax rate at 10% of adjusted gross gaming revenue.

The bill allowed Texas professional sports franchises to hold online sports betting licenses and did not require users to have to register for accounts in person.

Like Huberty’s bill, the Texas Sports Betting Alliance’s legislation will require an amendment to the Texas constitution. It will first have to be approved by Texas lawmakers to be placed on the 2023 general election ballot. If approved by Texas voters in the November 2023 election, it would head to Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) for his signature before becoming law.

Fiscal estimates of Huberty’s bill showed Texas would likely have 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 been earmarked for Texas education.

Huberty’s bill never received a vote on either the House or Senate floor before the conclusion of the 2021 session.

Texas Sports Betting Alliance confident in legislation

Legalizing and regulating online sports betting will protect Texas consumers that have placed over $8 billion in illegal bets through offshore sites, Gustafson told Saturday Down South. These illegal markets need to be suppressed to keep consumers safe and help generate new tax revenues for Texas.

“Our estimates show that when the market matures in the second biennium, we are looking at over half-a-billion dollars in revenue annually from mobile sports betting in Texas,” Gustafson said.

The Texas Sports Betting Alliance is currently backed by DraftKings, BetMGM, Barstool Sportsbook, and FanDuel, as well as every professional sports franchise in the state.

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,” he said.

The Alliance is also backed by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is currently featured in a short video on the alliance site.

“Texas is built on the core principle of individual freedom and we pride ourselves on being an economic powerhouse in the nation. Legalize mobile sports betting in Texas will finally allow the state to protect consumers from illegal offshore betting sites, while keeping the money generated from betting in Texas to benefit Texans,” he said in the video.