Texas sportsbook bills stack up ahead of 2023 legislative session
Lobbying group Texas Sports Betting Alliance reportedly set to table new bill as Lone Star state wagering expansion looks to 2023 gains
Sports betting legalization is likely to be high on the legislator agenda in Texas in 2023 following reports that a second group is set to table legislation to greenlight and regulate the vertical.
According to reports surfacing at the weekend on Texas-based news website Saturday Down South, national advocacy group the Texas Sports Betting Alliance (TSBA), an operator-funded body which works to advance sports betting legalization across the US, will soon lodge a bill in the state’s legislature.
The TSBA counts operators including BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings and Barstool among its membership as well as fourteen other Texas-based sports franchises.
Details of the bill’s makeup have not yet been confirmed; however it is understood the bill will be similar to HB 2070, proposed by Representative Dan Huberty in 2021, a bill which was not voted on in time to pass during that legislative session.
Huberty’s bill would have seen the issue of sports betting legalization put to a statewide vote, as would be required under the Lone Star state’s constitution. HB 2070 also allowed for registration of new accounts online and imposed a 10% tax rate on operators based on their adjusted gross gaming revenue (GGR).
It permitted the licensing of sportsbook operators as well as Texas professional sports franchises.
In comments reported by Saturday Down South, TSBA spokesperson Cara Gustafson expressed her hopes for the proposed legislation.
“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 said.
“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,” she added.
The TSBA’s bill, when realized, joins TX SJR17, a bill put forward by Texas Senator Carol Alvarado to allow regulated retail casino gambling and which also authorizes sports betting in the Lone Star State.
Alvardo’s bill aims to “foster economic development and job growth” while also providing tax-related funding for education and public safety-related causes.
The document includes the creation of a Texas Gaming Commission, which would have the power to license retail casino operators and tribal gaming operators recognized by the US Department of the Interior.
While the bill includes broad, sweeping detail on the proposed casino gambling licensing and taxation regime, there is little or no definition on the proposed licensing and taxation regime for sports betting, save for language in the main issue authorizing the vertical.
Texas is the second most populous state in the US (behind California) with 29.2 million residents, and would represent a huge market for the US gambling industry.
Texas’ next legislative session kicks off on January 10, 2023.