Categories: Technology

Geren reopens Texas casino fight, but his amendment still needs 21 Republican-led Senate votes

Rep. Charlie Geren filed a constitutional amendment on the first filing day of Texas's 2027 session that would let voters decide on casinos and sports betting. A Democratic House and a supportive lieutenant governor-elect improve its odds, but a two-thirds Senate vote and a fight over the Senate's leadership stand in the way.

Texas lawmakers have their first gambling-expansion measure of the 2027 session. Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican, filed a House joint resolution on November 9, the first day of bill filing. Voters would get the final say on a constitutional change giving lawmakers the power to permit and oversee casinos and sports betting.

The resolution would require lawmakers to limit casinos to a capped number of facilities statewide. Initial license terms would run at least 40 years. The Legislature would decide where sports betting could take place. The ballot wording would describe licensing, application fees and a tax on casino and sports wagering revenue at a limited number of locations.

Geren framed a statewide vote as the end of the debate either way. A rejection at the ballot box would close the question permanently, he said.

A Democratic House shifts the politics, not the threshold

The political ground has moved since Geren’s last attempt. Democrats won control of the Texas House in the November 3 election. Republicans held on to the Senate. As a state representative, Goodwin backed the 2023 gambling measure. The office she won was held by Dan Patrick, who blocked gambling expansion for years.

The constitutional route keeps the bar high. An amendment needs two-thirds of both chambers, then a majority of voters. Approved amendments go on the November ballot after the session ends. In 2023, online sports betting passed the House with 101 votes. Geren’s casino resolution reached only 92. The casino measure fell short of the threshold that the betting measure cleared.

A Senate power struggle could decide the measure’s fate

The Senate is the harder test. Republicans control the chamber, and any amendment needs two-thirds support there. On November 9, Patrick urged Republican senators on conservative radio to strip Goodwin of her powers as Senate president before she takes office. Her influence over the chamber, including any gambling bill, now hangs on that fight.

Goodwin has signaled a conciliatory approach. Her transition team said she wants to work with Republican senators and believes Texas is “best served by a deliberative, collaborative body.”

Industry money has struggled to change the Republican map. In the March primaries, anti-gambling incumbents beat challengers backed by the Las Vegas Sands-funded Texas Sands PAC and Texas Defense PAC, to which Miriam Adelson had given $9 million. Even so, Texas Sands PAC has pledged to keep investing in and organizing for Texas candidates who favor bringing casino gambling to the state.

That leaves Geren’s measure dependent on a Senate whose leadership is still contested. A simple majority could strip Goodwin’s powers once the chamber reconvenes in January.