Do you think Texas will allow gambling on sports?

[Chrispierce]

I think in Texas’ case...this would be a bad idea. As everyone knows high school football and college there are insanely popular,near to the point of extremes. I could see a myriad of compromising problems with that. Gambling is not something I’m huge fan though as a general rule. It tends to get out of hand quickly,because you always think you’re going to win one more time...but you don’t.

 

[Longboysfan]

They know and that's why they bought the race track in Grand Prairie because the skinny is if they do weaken, it will begin with video gaming allowed at the race track. Nothing to say they couldn't be the licensee in N TX.

The Chickasaw's have put a ton of money into Winstar with the hotels and expansion and if Texas did legalize it and they were left out, that would be a ghost town compared to what it is now. And it's questionable whether they could bring in the big acts without the N TX traffic.

I don't think they believe it will happen anytime soon as the media has been doing pieces on lost tax revenue since the casinos opened. They seem to conveniently ignore it in Austin because they don't want to anger some people in Texas and it's just an assumption on my part but I think church people are more likely to vote than gamblers. And I have never seen any research on what Texans want and if they really care. Some of the states that have legalized it were losing pop and needing tax revenue, Texas is just the opposite so I don't think it even gets brought up for discussion.

Between the two, I'd rather see them legalize pot more than gambling because then I could get lost on the way to the casinos.

Thanks for the great reply on this.

I think that maybe in Texas the state opens their own small shops for this.
Sort of like OTB in New York.
But that started big and scaled back as horse racing slowly sank in attendance and betting pool monies.

That's why almost all tracks are linked together and take bets on the big races.

 

[Longboysfan]

In New York State they legalized casino gambling. It isn't doing all that well either. And, just the other day they legalized betting on sporting events. I can't wait to see what that does. I don't think it's a good thing.

I thought they only had Racinos. At the race tracks?

 

[CouchCoach]

Thanks for the great reply on this.

I think that maybe in Texas the state opens their own small shops for this.
Sort of like OTB in New York.
But that started big and scaled back as horse racing slowly sank in attendance and betting pool monies.

That's why almost all tracks are linked together and take bets on the big races.

Where online race betting is allowed, it does OK because handicappers, like my cousin in CO, follow the sport all over the world but they are a very small part of the population and everyone of those guys that I know is just about the ponies, they're not what I would call gamblers.

We make it to Oaklawn every season for the Rebel Stakes and I am amazed at his knowledge of the horses and history while I am more the gambler type taking his money he already knows he's going to lose. Isn't that a fascinating concept? However, after 6 trips I am up considerably and even more on the big races that he places for me on his online account at Churchill Downs.

Every casual gambler I know does that. "I am taking what I can afford to lose and consider it already their money". I am sure they feel the same way and the quicker they can get one into the backup roll to try and mitigate the losses, the happier they are.

The empty argument against gambling is that it enables an addiction in some people but as we know, addicts will find their fix and illegal online gaming is estimated at 150B in this country alone. I say legalize, regulate and tax it and stop allowing crimes that can be eliminated by making them legal, just like the states that have legalized pot. They're making the tax revenue and have cut out the middle man from Mexico and the opiate problems in every state have been reduced.

 

[Quickdraw]

I thought they only had Racinos. At the race tracks?

They do. But they have a full blown casino in the neighboring city which also has OTB. Now they're allowing betting on sporting events.