Texas is known for its love of sports and its vibrant culture, and yet, betting on those sports is still illegal in the Lone Star State.
When PASPA was repealed in 2018, most of the rest of the United States acted to allow betting on MLS and other sports, but Texas has remained staunch in its stance against sports betting.
Ironically for MLS fans, Texas is also home to three different MLS clubs, so there will be a large number of people wanting to wager on their favourite team who can’t, or, as you will soon hear, find other ways to get their bets on.
While it may still be illegal, Texas has taken steps towards legalizing sports betting. However, there has not been enough support from people in power to get things moving, despite plenty of support from the public.
The Current Laws on Sports Betting in Texas
Despite the growing trend of legalization across the United States, Texas has been hesitant to embrace sports betting. The state’s conservative political landscape and strong ties to traditional values have made the path to legalization more challenging than in other states.
That’s not to say gambling is totally illegal there – a state lottery runs and betting at the horse racing is allowed – but it is very tightly controlled.
However, there have been efforts to change the status quo.
In 2021, House Joint Resolution 102 was introduced, aiming to amend the Texas Constitution to allow sports betting. The resolution garnered support in the House but failed to advance in the Senate.
Then, in 2023, House Bill 1942 was proposed. Again, this bill passed the House but it did not receive a hearing in the Senate.
On both occasions, one man in particular had significantly hindered progress: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. He said there was little support for the expansion of gambling regulations from Senate Republicans so it wouldn’t get through even if it was heard. However, Patrick himself is an evangelical Christian and some have suggested he is using his position as the presiding officer of the Senate to push his own personal views.
He has said in the past:
“I am a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third”
So he certainly sounds like he would hold anti-gambling views.
That said, the average age of the Texas Senate is over 65, and Dan Patrick was in his 70s when he blocked HJR 102 and HB 1942, so perhaps these older more traditional minded Senators would indeed vote against such changes, rendering a hearing pointless.
Proponents of legal sports betting in Texas argue that it could generate significant revenue for the state, create jobs, and provide a regulated and safe environment for fans to engage with their favorite sports. It seems to have plenty of public support too, with several polls showing Texans would be happy for sports betting to be legalized.
Chances are, Texas will eventually bow to public pressure and take steps to relax the laws around sports betting. It’s a question of when rather than if. Dan Patrick has said that if there is support from the Senate he will happily accept a hearing of a similar bill on betting, so perhaps it needs the house representatives (who are younger and greater in number) to put pressure on their Senate representatives.
Unregulated Betting
One of the issues with banning people from doing something they want to do, is that many will simply find a way to do it anyway.
For example, the American Gaming Association estimated that Texans spent over $6 billion on unregulated gambling in 2022. In other words, they used illegal websites. That is an awful lot of money that could be going through licensed operators, get taxed, then get spent by the state. Not to mention the fact that anyone who bets with unregulated operators is putting themselves at risk of being ripped off.
Crossing state lines is another way to do it.
Texas shares a border with two states where online sports betting is totally legal: Louisiana and Arkansas. You simply have to be in the state to bet legally, so anyone who lives far enough East could get around the ban this way. New Mexico lies to the North West of Texas, where sports betting is also legal, although you need to be at a tribal casino to do so, making things more difficult for sports fans on this side of the state.
MLS Teams in Texas
The Lone Star State is very busy when it comes to MLS action, although all three teams are located to the East or South East, quite close to each other. That’s ok if you live in the general vicinity, but for Texans on the North, West, or further South, it’s difficult to get to games.
FC Dallas was a founder member of Major League Soccer in 1996, although back then they were known as Dallas Burn. They haven’t won a great deal in their time, but have usually been solid contenders. They have a dedicated fan base too, who regularly sell out their stadium in Frisco and come together to create a social media following of around 500,000 on Instagram and Facebook, plus around 250,000 on X.
In 2006 Houston Dynamo entered the league as an expansion team, a little under 300 miles South of FC Dallas. It created an instant rivalry, especially since Dynamo won the MLS Cup in their first two seasons, and won the Western Conference the year after that. Things haven’t been as rosy for them since, but they are still more successful than their neighbours, despite not getting the same levels of support at their home games.
Most recently, Austin FC joined MLS as the expansion team for 2021. They haven’t had the most illustrious start but it’s still early days, and the locals support them with a 100% average attendance at home games. Austin FC’s location creates a small triangle of MLS clubs all within a few hundred miles of each other, so MLS fans in Texas are spoilt for soccer action and local derby matches.
It’s just a shame they can’t bet on the, yet…