texas – FairOdds Network

March 14, 2025

State of the Union: Drama in Texas, Alberta opening, Missouri applications soon available, more

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.

Texas GOP group: Wagering “dead on arrival”

It appears the November election didn’t turn out well for the future of gambling expansion in Texas. A group of anti-gambling Republican lawmakers newly elected in the state replaced some who previously supported the idea, according to the Texas Tribune. In addition, three GOP senators who supported a gambling expansion in 2023 say they now oppose the idea. The Texas legislature meets only in odd-numbered years.

In addition, opposition to a casino complex in the Dallas suburb of Irving has been mounting. According to KERA News, “thousands” have signed a petition against converting a 1,000+ acre parcel that was the site of the old Texas Stadium into a mixed-use entertainment development. The project by Las Vegas Sands could ultimately crumble without a casino.

Hous..

February 5, 2025

Texas governor OK with legal sports betting, but his words may not matter

On Tuesday (4 February) Texas governor Greg Abbott said during a podcast that he doesn't “have a problem with online sports betting”. But he's not the Texas politician who has the power to call – or block – a vote in the senate.

Abbott, who has been the governor since 2015, said during his re-election run in 2021 that he wasn’t opposed to gambling in his state. According to the Texas Tribune, he and former house speaker Dade Phelan went “further” in their support.

The sticking point in the Lone Star State has long been lieutenant governor Dan Patrick. He has consistently said that he will not call a vote on an expansion of gambling in Texas unless there is a Republican majority to support it.

I've said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming from Senate GOP. I polled members this week. Nothing changed. The senate must focus on issues voters expect us to pass. We don’t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support. HB1942 won’t be referre..

November 14, 2024

Will Tyson-Paul fight be the real deal?

Pennsylvania, Colorado and Vermont won’t approve wagering and for good reason.

I have been covering the sport of boxing professionally for 27 years and, as crazy as it is to type these words, Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson is, in some regards, the biggest boxing match of that entire span.

The viewing audience for Friday night’s fight from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be enormous – not nearly on par with a Super Bowl, but quite possibly equal to the next-biggest sporting event on the list.

And so, in turn, the betting interest is humongous. Even people who’ve never watched Paul box in any of his 11 professional bouts, or who weren’t alive the last time Tyson held a major heavyweight title, seem to have strong conviction as to whether the 27-year-old neophyte is going to get the better of the 58-year-old living legend. Or if the former “Baddest Man on the Planet” is going to butcher the former Disney Channel star.

There are three states, however, that regulate sports betting but w..

October 15, 2024

Presidential politics could alter gambling expansion landscape in multiple states including Texas

Three weeks from today, US voters will elect a new president. Whoever the winner is, there's likely to be a change in the gambling political landscape in multiple states.
Should Donald Trump become president, there are at least two states – Arkansas and Texas – that could be most affected when it comes to gambling expansions. And if Kamala Harris wins the election, there are another two states in which change could moderately affect the current gambling climate.

Trump could tap Texas governor Greg Abbott or lieutenant-governor Dan Patrick for his cabinet. Either one of those appointments is a potential game changer in the second-biggest state in the US. And in Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a former Trump White House press secretary, so it seems possible that she would be on a short list for another appointment.

Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, is the current governor of Minnesota. Walz has been supportive of an expansion of gambling and that likely wouldn’t chan..

October 9, 2024

G2E: Lobbyists predict Texas’ odds of 2025 gaming expansion now “greater than 50%”

Numerous years of political progress in Texas have made it so that the chances of passing gaming legislation in the 2025 session are better than ever, according to a panel of lobbyists on Tuesday (8 October) at Las Vegas' Global Gaming Expo (G2E).
Tuesday’s discussion drew a packed house to hear about the latest progress in the Lone Star State. David Rittvo, principal at Tailored Hospitality Advisors, moderated the discussion alongside three heads of governmental relations: Andy Abboud of Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Rick Limardo of MGM Resorts and Caesar Fernandez of FanDuel.

Abboud was the most bullish of the group, proclaiming several times that Texas gaming expansion is “inevitable”. Even if 2025 isn’t the year, he said, it will still be “another session of great progress”. When asked about the probability of passage next year, he asserted that it is now “greater than 50%”.

The path to legalisation is not easy – it requires a constitutional amendment, enabling legislation and pa..

August 23, 2024

Don’t hold your breath on legal wagering in Texas next year

The heightened opposition to gambling in general – fueled by the casino debate – is now spilling over into the discussion around sports betting
The future of legalised sports betting in Texas has become entangled in a web of lobbying efforts and political manoeuvring centred around the more contentious issue of casino legalisation. The Lone Star State is the second largest in the US after California to not have legal sports betting. And it is facing increasingly complex challenges that could derail the prospects for legalisation in the near future.

According to a recent report from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG), a Southern California-based advisory firm specialising in the gaming industry, Texas has been removed from the list of states likely to legalise sports betting in 2025. The report highlights the growing influence of anti-gaming advocates and the intensified lobbying for casino legalisation as significant obstacles to the advancement of sports betting legislation. As a result, ..

August 2, 2024

State of the Union: Olympics betting, Texas legalisation talk, Ontario’s latest idea

Welcome to iGB's State of the Union, a look at the biggest North American sports betting stories we've covered over the week and briefs on others we found interesting.
Here’s where Olympic betting is highest in US
According to a Forbes report, bettors in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have a high interest in betting on the Olympics. Why? Per the story, a heavy interest in basketball – particularly the Celtics in Maine and Massachusetts and college basketball in North Carolina – is one driver.

Another is the number of athletes representing a state in Paris. Of the 592 athletes representing the US at the Olympics, which runs through 11 August, 143 are from California. The state with the next highest is Florida with 50, followed by Texas with 43. Of the three states, only Florida has legal sports betting. There are 31 athletes from New York competing and 20 from Pennsylvania.

Bettors in Massachusetts can bet on the Olympics, but not on judged..

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Tag: texas