Perry: State should legalize sports betting

Former Gov. Rick Perry wants Texas to legalize sports betting, a move lawmakers have yet to support widely.

The issue will be up for debate during next year’s legislative session, which begins Jan. 10.

Perry, who served as governor from 2000-2015, released a video last week for the Sports Betting Alliance, a collective that includes prominent sportsbook operators and all of Texas’ major teams.

“Texas is built on the core principle of individual freedom, and we pride ourselves on being an economic powerhouse in the nation,” Perry said in the video. “Legalizing mobile sports betting in Texas will finally allow the state to protect consumers from illegal offshore betting sites while keeping the money generated from betting in Texas to benefit Texans.”

Perry said Texans are crossing state lines to place bets in Louisiana, one of more than 20 states where the practice is legal.

“Texas continues to fall behind,” he said. “Neighboring states are already cashing in on Texans’ bets.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones organized the alliance to push sports betting legislation during the last session in 2021. There were two bills to legalize only sports gambling and two that would have also allowed four casino resorts to be built in San Antonio, Austin, the Dallas-fort Worth area and Houston.

The bills effectively died when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate president, said sports gambling would not “see the light of day” during the session. He and Gov. Greg Abbott have been reluctant in the past to defy religious conservatives opposed to expanded gambling.

But Abbott has indicated he’s open to casino gambling, Hearst Newspapers reported last month.