80th Legislature: More Gambling Bills Filed

Earlier this week, we told you about the bill that had been authored to make gambling legal in the Texas Penal Code so long as it was on Indian land and conducted according to the appropriate federal laws.

Now, State Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) has taken an even bigger step to making casino gambling a reality in Texas. He’s filed SJR 8, which could mean as many as a dozen casinos could soon be operating in Texas.

It’s nearly identical to a measure filed last session that went over like a pregnant lady on a pole vault in the Lege.

Will this be the session in which casino gambling is legalized in Texas? It’s hard to say, but let’s take a hard look at SJR 8 first.

First and foremost, the bureaucratic part. SJR 8 will abolish the Texas Racing Commission and the Texas Lottery Commission and merge all of that into a new agency, the Texas Gaming Commission.

The new TGC will consist of one member appointed each by the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, the AG and the Comptroller.

Then, we get down to the meat of the bill. The law the bill creates will authorize 12 “casino-anchored destination attraction development projects.”

Seven of those may be in urban areas allocated by population. Two will be on the islands in the Gulf of Mexico “that are tourist destinations with at least 1,000 guest rooms available for visitors in hotels, motels, or condominiums existing on January 1, 2007.”

The three remaining projects will be at locations the commission determines, in areas where they can “achieve targeted economic development or permanent new job creation” or which are, “selected for other considerations determined appropriate by the commission.”

That last priovision sounds a lot like it may be targeted to Indian casinos.
Note that the economic development impacts of the projects are secured in a provision that states the following must be met for a project to qualify for a license:

a project must include total land and development costs of at least:
(1)  $400 million for an urban area project;
(2)  $200 million for an island tourist destination project; and
(3)  $150 million for an additional project.

Keep in mind that it still isn’t a done deal.

A local option election must be held in every county where someone applies for a casino-anchored destination attraction license.

There are a couple of other things: 51% of the casino must be owned by state residents, and the governor has to call a special session to enact more gaming laws.

Of course, if the surplus projections are as rosy as they seem to be now, the Lege may not think this is a good time for the legislation that would put an extra $2 billion in state coffers every year:

Even though the state appears to be flush with cash to meet the demands for state services, a key backer of the measure said lawmakers would be wise to act soon or risk losing the opportunity to reap that revenue.

“I’m hearing a lot of people saying, ‘This isn’t the time [for casinos] because we don’t need the money as bad,’ ” said Bill Stinson, a lobbyist representing the gambling industry. “That might be true, but unless we get everything in place real soon, we’ll be out of luck until 2012 or later.”

Good point. That two billion won’t exactly be immediate, and by the time the state needs it, it’d be there.

Furthermore, it is important to note that Oklahoma and Louisiana get a lot of entertainment and “tourism” dollars from Texans because there is no legalized casino gambling in Texas. The amount of money that could fill local government coffers as well as state coffers through various and sundry taxes (hotel motel tax, etc.)

Related posts:

1. 80th Legislature: 380 House, 118 Senate Bills Pre-Filed As Of Friday
2. 80th Legislature: Gambling On Gambling?
3. 80th Legislature: More Election Related Legislation Filed
4. 80th Legislature: Bills For 12/04/06
5. 80th Legislature: Bills for 12/05/06