OUR OPINION: Let voters make gaming decision
SAN ANGELO, Texas — As the Texas Legislature tries to plug a gaping budget hole, all reasonable ideas should be on the table.
That includes allowing casino gambling, which would add an estimated $3 billion in state revenues in the next biennium, but it looks like the game is rigged to keep the issue out of the mix.
Testimony is occurring this week in a Texas House of Representatives committee, but the bill may not even get a look in the Senate.
San Angelo’s state Sen. Robert Duncan heads the Committee on State Affairs that would hear testimony and decide whether to send the measure to the full Senate, and he is reluctant to schedule hearings. Duncan, who opposes casino gambling, said the bill doesn’t have the support of two-thirds of senators, the threshold for bringing an issue up for a vote.
San Angelo state Rep. Drew Darby also opposes the bill.
We respect our lawmakers’ views, but the bill doesn’t call for allowing an expansion of gambling. Rather, it would put the issue before voters, who would decide whether slot machines and other gambling would be allowed at seven destination casinos, three Indian reservations and 13 horse and dog tracks.
Legislators should send the issue to Texans and then start the debate, which has strong arguments on both sides. Social costs come with all gaming, including tempting wagers by people who can’t afford to make them. The other side will argue that Texans already are traveling to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana to gamble and that their own state should benefit from that activity.
There are many more points to be made, but they won’t be heard unless two-thirds of senators and representatives vote to put the issue on the ballot. Considering the impact of budget cuts on state services, it makes great sense to allow Texans to decide whether casino gambling is an acceptable way to help the state cope with its budget crisis.