Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

Sure you can bet, just can't use Draftkings and a few other books.
Try betonline and bookmaker, those are 2 solid books. They take credit card and crypto deposits.

It's typically evangelicals and southern baptists who oppose anything fun. They assume gambling will come with prostitution and "straying from god". Gambling, weed should be legalized

Since you can do it from your phone, nobody cares. Dont need a sportsbook anymore.

just collect sports cards...

The opposition is from Oklahoma and Louisiana casinos, churches, and people who think it's immoral.

If it was ever put on the ballot statewide, it would pass easily, imo. But I doubt it ever does get on a ballot because the above lobbyists are powerful.

The same people who are staunchly against sports betting and gambling are the same people who go buy $50 worth of scratch offs or get a Power Ball ticket. It's so dumb.

TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

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Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

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Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

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Not really. 30 or 40 years ago that answer might have been more accurate. Texas does have a longstanding public policy of not enforcing gambling contracts.

But now the biggest headwind against it is the gaming lobby at our borders. Legalize gambling in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana slowly recedes back into the swamp, Thackerville, Oklahoma turns back into a sleepy rural town, and even Las Vegas takes a pretty serious hit. Just imagine plopping a casino and a sports book into all of those huge hill country resorts.

TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

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Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Thats my question. Again, I consider myself conservative and I don't have a problem with gambling or MJ.

What I'm trying to figure out is how this bill can't get out of committee? Most people I know like me have no problem with the idea of gaming. Are there that many Southern Baptists and Hard-liner religious people in the TX House that oppose this, or are the conservatives like myself afraid of them. I just don't see the hard-line religious right being as big of a factor in the state as it used to.

yes

People like to **** on crypto here, but getting around this stuff is what it's good for.

I absolutely understand the push for legalized sports gaming but also feel like the current ease of gambling is a good compromise; you have to have half a brain to be able to do it.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

---

Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Not really. 30 or 40 years ago that answer might have been more accurate. Texas does have a longstanding public policy of not enforcing gambling contracts.

But now the biggest headwind against it is the gaming lobby at our borders. Legalize gambling in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana slowly recedes back into the swamp, Thackerville, Oklahoma turns back into a sleepy rural town, and even Las Vegas takes a pretty serious hit. Just imagine plopping a casino and a sports book into all of those huge hill country resorts.

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Crazy thing is that sports gaming can't get out of committee in OK. Its insane. Choctaw built a beautiful sports bar/book which was designed by the people who designed Caesars in Vegas (if you haven't been, its worth a look), and will soon become a full on book once Oklahoma gets it together. It will be nuts to watch and bet games up there, but for right now, its just kind of sitting there.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

---

Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Not really. 30 or 40 years ago that answer might have been more accurate. Texas does have a longstanding public policy of not enforcing gambling contracts.

But now the biggest headwind against it is the gaming lobby at our borders. Legalize gambling in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana slowly recedes back into the swamp, Thackerville, Oklahoma turns back into a sleepy rural town, and even Las Vegas takes a pretty serious hit. Just imagine plopping a casino and a sports book into all of those huge hill country resorts.

---

I think it would be naive to not assume the casinos in OK/LA wouldn't align themselves with religious power brokers/groups to achieve their goals if there was ever a meaningful move to legalize gambling in Texas.

That being said, will never happen with guys like Patrick setting the legislative agenda.

TresPuertas said:

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Crazy thing is that sports gaming can't get out of committee in OK. Its insane. Choctaw built a beautiful sports bar and will soon become a full on book once it gets legalized. It will be nuts to watch and bet games up there, but for right now, its just kind of sitting there.

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The aversion to sports betting in America is one of the stranger cultural phenomena I've witnessed. At this point, the absurdity of Pete Rose not being in the baseball hall of fame has reached critical insanity.

I really just don't get it. People from the US need to go to Europe to watch a game. I remember the first time I ever went to an English Premier League match I was shocked to walk into the stadium and there was a William Hill kiosk INSIDE THE STADIUM offering all sorts of odds on the match that was starting in 10 minutes. Hell, half of the professional level clubs (maybe more?) have a sports gambling outfit as the main sponsor on their jersey.

TXAGFAN said:

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ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

---

Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Not really. 30 or 40 years ago that answer might have been more accurate. Texas does have a longstanding public policy of not enforcing gambling contracts.

But now the biggest headwind against it is the gaming lobby at our borders. Legalize gambling in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana slowly recedes back into the swamp, Thackerville, Oklahoma turns back into a sleepy rural town, and even Las Vegas takes a pretty serious hit. Just imagine plopping a casino and a sports book into all of those huge hill country resorts.

---

I think it would be naive to not assume the casinos in OK/LA wouldn't align themselves with religious power brokers/groups to achieve their goals if there was ever a meaningful move to legalize gambling in Texas.

That being said, will never happen with guys like Patrick setting the legislative agenda.

---

I actually know a couple executives at Winstar and they openly told me they spend a lot of money lobbying in Austin against us having casinos. They know they would close down in weeks if we did, as do the casinos in Shreveport.

TresPuertas said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

---

Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Thats my question. Again, I consider myself conservative and I don't have a problem with gambling or MJ.

What I'm trying to figure out is how this bill can't get out of committee? Most people I know like me have no idea with the idea of gaming. Are there that many Southern Baptists and Hard-liner religious people in the TX House that oppose this, or are the conservatives like myself afraid of them. I just don't see the hard-line religious right being as big of a factor in the state as it used to.

---

I don't want to derail, but of course there is. Look at the Texas abortion legislation, it's way more extreme than the vast majority of Texans support and it happened because of that loud minority and the stranglehold they have on GOP leaders.

ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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Not really. 30 or 40 years ago that answer might have been more accurate. Texas does have a longstanding public policy of not enforcing gambling contracts.

But now the biggest headwind against it is the gaming lobby at our borders. Legalize gambling in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana slowly recedes back into the swamp, Thackerville, Oklahoma turns back into a sleepy rural town, and even Las Vegas takes a pretty serious hit. Just imagine plopping a casino and a sports book into all of those huge hill country resorts.

---

Lake Charles, agreed

Thackerville, agreed

Las Vegas, I doubt it. Riverboats and Indian Casinos were predicted to hurt Las Vegas from the beginning, but we're bigger than ever. More casinos throughout the country means more gamblers, which means more people looking to visit the biggest gambling destination.

TXAGFAN said:

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ThunderCougarFalconBird said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

---

Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Not really. 30 or 40 years ago that answer might have been more accurate. Texas does have a longstanding public policy of not enforcing gambling contracts.

But now the biggest headwind against it is the gaming lobby at our borders. Legalize gambling in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana slowly recedes back into the swamp, Thackerville, Oklahoma turns back into a sleepy rural town, and even Las Vegas takes a pretty serious hit. Just imagine plopping a casino and a sports book into all of those huge hill country resorts.

---

I think it would be naive to not assume the casinos in OK/LA wouldn't align themselves with religious power brokers/groups to achieve their goals if there was ever a meaningful move to legalize gambling in Texas.

That being said, will never happen with guys like Patrick setting the legislative agenda.

---

Not sure I'm following the point you're making. Are you suggesting that the out of state casino lobby is in bed with/donating to Texas religious groups to pitch anti-gambling messaging to their congregations and parishioners? The religious crowd can say whatever their going to say but their influence on this one -- in 2022 at least -- is de minimis at best compared to the casino lobby.

At the end of the day its about money and lots of casino owners have a lot of money invested in gambling dollars from Texas.

Though I will say against my own argument that the REITs and investment companies that own all of the hill country mega-resorts and big convention center type hotels in the CBDs around Texas seem awfully quiet about their inability to have a casino and sports book on site. Perhaps they aren't pushing it because they don't want to be in the casino business and if its simply not legal, they don't have to? I don't know.

TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

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Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Thats my question. Again, I consider myself conservative and I don't have a problem with gambling or MJ.

What I'm trying to figure out is how this bill can't get out of committee? Most people I know like me have no idea with the idea of gaming. Are there that many Southern Baptists and Hard-liner religious people in the TX House that oppose this, or are the conservatives like myself afraid of them. I just don't see the hard-line religious right being as big of a factor in the state as it used to.

---

I don't want to derail, but of course there is. Look at the Texas abortion legislation, it's way more extreme than the vast majority of Texans support and it happened because of that loud minority and the stranglehold they have on GOP leaders.

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I fully support the legalization of sports gambling and marijuana.


I also fully support the complete abolishment of all abortions. I'm not sure you truly understand the typical white middle class conservative male in this state.

I'd dare say there are millions more like me in the state than there are hard line religious fundamentalists.

If gaming comes to Texas, all lake Chuck will have left is boudin.

Probably a slightly unpopular decision here, I like the idea of legalizing online gambling especially sports in Texas. That said I still support a ban on casinos. The thought being that online gambling would have less sway of a city/counties local politics than a casino or casinos would. I think the nature of the business leads to increased shady politics. It also prevents a concentration of gambling addicts from forming in localized areas thus distributing the burden (crime/financial) over a larger area.

texsn95 said:

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Sure you can bet, just can't use Draftkings and a few other books.
Try betonline and bookmaker, those are 2 solid books. They take credit card and crypto deposits.

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How is getting your $$ out of those platforms? That's been the issue I've seen in the past with sites like that. They'll take your $$ but getting your winnings is always a hassle. They want like 3% - 5% of the winnings just to send you your money....which is a beat down since they're already taking the juice. I'm not doing bitcoin, etc to get paid by them.

texagbeliever said:

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Probably a slightly unpopular decision here, I like the idea of legalizing online gambling especially sports in Texas. That said I still support a ban on casinos. The thought being that online gambling would have less sway of a city/counties local politics than a casino or casinos would. I think the nature of the business leads to increased shady politics. It also prevents a concentration of gambling addicts from forming in localized areas thus distributing the burden (crime/financial) over a larger area.

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This is pretty much my position. Give us sports gaming. I don't really care about Casinos that much.

However, I do have to say, OK has really changed my mind about the whole thing. I was thinking that with the legalization of MJ and the rise of Casinos in the state, it would resemble something like Biff's in Back to the Future 2. I couldn't have been more incorrect.

I don't smoke, nor do I gamble on table games, save from an occasional dice game in Vegas, and I'm 100% ok with the net result of both in the state of Oklahoma.

JBAB said:

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texsn95 said:

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Sure you can bet, just can't use Draftkings and a few other books.
Try betonline and bookmaker, those are 2 solid books. They take credit card and crypto deposits.

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How is getting your $$ out of those platforms? That's been the issue I've seen in the past with sites like that. They'll take your $$ but getting your winnings is always a hassle. They want like 3% - 5% of the winnings just to send you your money....which is a beat down since they're already taking the juice. I'm not doing bitcoin, etc to get paid by them.

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There are some shady books for sure, but if you stick with some A+ books, then there's no issue with payouts, especially with crypto. They cut checks too but you have to pay a fee.
I'm on a forum where there are some high rollers there, and they have no issue pulling out 1000s. Now if you win too much consistently, then the book will tag you as a pro player (vs a recreational player, which is how they make their money) and cut your limits. But I've never had that problem unfortunately.

From someone who's been there, gambling addictions are scary leading to really dark places. That being said, so are alcohol addictions and I'm not one to advocate for prohibition.

It should be legal here, I just wish people would stay away for their own good.

That's a bit tinfoil hat, I'm saying that if there was a move to pass legislation of any kind they'd be on same side, including groups formed against legalization.

TresPuertas said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

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TXAGFAN said:

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TresPuertas said:

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Just curious about everyone's opinion on the legalization of sports betting in the state.

I'm what would be considered pretty staunchly conservative and I think its absurd that we can't bet games.

What kind of people are against this and why??? I can see the opposition to table gaming and Casinos (although after seeing the Choctaw empire in OK, I really don't get it), but whats the argument against sports betting?

---

Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

---

Thats my question. Again, I consider myself conservative and I don't have a problem with gambling or MJ.

What I'm trying to figure out is how this bill can't get out of committee? Most people I know like me have no idea with the idea of gaming. Are there that many Southern Baptists and Hard-liner religious people in the TX House that oppose this, or are the conservatives like myself afraid of them. I just don't see the hard-line religious right being as big of a factor in the state as it used to.

---

I don't want to derail, but of course there is. Look at the Texas abortion legislation, it's way more extreme than the vast majority of Texans support and it happened because of that loud minority and the stranglehold they have on GOP leaders.

---

I fully support the legalization of sports gambling and marijuana.


I also fully support the complete abolishment of all abortions. I'm not sure you truly understand the typical white middle class conservative male in this state.

I'd dare say there are millions more like me in the state than there are hard line religious fundamentalists.

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The polling says differently.

Just move to a state with gambling. This is how it works, if it is that important to you. That state will
Make you happy.

If you don't want to leave Texas for all the wonderful gambling states, maybe you have solved your own question.

Texmid said:

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We need to legalize weed and casinos.

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Prostitution as well.

black_ice said:

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Texmid said:

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We need to legalize weed and casinos.

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Prostitution as well.

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No.

ETA I don't care about weed and casinos. I see a point to both sides of the argument. People that are pro prostitution are just wrong.

TXAGFAN said:

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Whos against it? The same crowd that's against any sort of change…gambling, marijuana, gay marriage, etc. The evangelicals and social conservatives that talk a big game about freedom, but only when it fits their narrow worldview.

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flag this detailing garbage post

gordo6 said:

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It's typically evangelicals and southern baptists who oppose anything fun. They assume gambling will come with prostitution and "straying from god". Gambling, weed should be legalized

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It's true. We live a really boring life, and I question myself daily on why I keep living up this dreadful lifestyle. Life is all about having fun. Work, church, and responsibilities get in the way of that. lets just legalize everything fun, let the government take care of us and live the most happy lifestyle imaginable.

My buddy used to get paid in Bitcoin from his gambling website. He cashed out 17 Bitcoins and sold them at $1700 per lol