Late last year, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson hired some of the biggest names in Texas for unknown purposes. Then he died suddenly on January 12th, leaving his mysterious foray into Texas pending.
His dream team of Texas lobbyists included Drew DeBerry, a former employee in the administration of President George W. Bush and former senior adviser to Governor Greg Abbott; former Texas Speaker of the House Chief of Staff Gavin Massingill; and Mike “The Enforcer” Toomey (aka Mike the Knife), former Chief of Staff to Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Monthly man, once called him “the most powerful – and most feared – unelected person in Texas politics today”.
Recent reports from the Texas Tribune show the team now includes 51 members as the Las Vegas Sands Corporation continues its operations.
However, Texas has become less and less averse to the idea of expanding gambling over the past decade. Despite widespread support from both parties from the Texan congressional delegation, Governor Greg Abbott remains a hardliner when it comes to expanding the game for nationally recognized Texan tribes. That seems like the most pleasant of the possible moves towards more casinos in the Lone Star State, but the governor doesn’t seem to be moving. He has also stopped attempts to bring online sports betting into the state. Oddly enough, when Abbott made a public statement about Adelson’s death, he made no mention of any of the Mughal’s gambling empires, focusing solely on philanthropic work and support for Israel.
Like the marijuana lobby, the gambling lobby has found itself without a top notch bargaining chip. Texas should have a shortfall of $ 4.6 billion this year, but the total was only a quarter of that. While still worrying, it has removed the immediacy of many of the proposed fixes like a marijuana retail market or a wave of casinos.
The House’s new Texas spokesman, Dade Phelan, was also ambivalent at best to the idea of a casino empire in the state.
“It is brought up in every conversation, and if you want to discuss these two as sources of income, do so through the prism of long-term commitment as it will not fix the current budget deficit or the budget problems of 22-23 that we have”, Phelan said during an interview with Evan Smith, Texas Tribune CEO. “It will be years before you generate any income from any of these options. It’s not factual to think that you can plug in either and play. It’s not going to work in this current budget cycle. “
So far, only one bill has been tabled in Texas law to take over gambling. Joint Texas House Resolution 26, introduced by Joe Deshotel (D-Port Arthur), would legalize casinos in certain coastal areas to provide funds to recover from storms and empower Kickapoo to operate their bingo halls.
Most likely, expansion of gambling will not be in the legislature, but in the Texan electorate. HJR 27 calls for a constitutional amendment to be presented to the public. Eventually, with Adelson’s company reportedly spending millions on the topic, they must convince the public that doing Las Vegas Sands-style business is good for the state. If they can, casinos may be built around the blockade of the Texas leadership.
