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SPORTS BETTING

US – Texas House passes bill to allow voters to rule on sports betting

By - 15 May 2023

The Texas House of Representatives has given its final approval to legislation that would allow voters to decide whether to legalise online sports betting across the state but resolutions to bring casino gambling were delayed. 

The sports betting proposal required 100 votes to pass and eventually got 101 votes in favour of House Joint Resolution 102.  House Joint Resolution 155 to let voters decide whether to allow casinos in Texas has been delayed until Friday. Both are though expected to face opposition in the Senate.

Republican Jeff Leach, the author of the sports-betting bill, said Texans were already betting on sports. 

He said: “Every single one of them are criminals under Texas law, and I believe that we should pass this bill to let them come out of the shadows and to carefully and safely regulate this.” 

The casino proposal led to the most debate. It would allow at least eight licenses for casino resorts across Texas, also paving the way for land-based sports betting. Republican Matt Schaefer, tabled a bid to change the bill to exclude casino operators who do business in China and three other countries, which would rule out Wynn Resorts, MGM and Las Vegas Sands. He said they had an ‘irreconcilable conflict of interest’ with the communist government. 

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