Despite an absolutely massive sports culture, sports betting is not legal in Texas.
Historically, the Lone Star State has maintained a firm stance against gambling in almost all forms and although there are signs of a change, Texans should not hold their breath waiting for legal sports betting to arrive anytime soon.
But, there are a couple of exceptions. While standard sports gambling isn’t allowed, websites providing daily dream sports, such as DraftKings and FanDuel are permitted to function in the state.
Early in 2019 a state lawmaker registered a new Texas sports betting bill to permit in-person and cellular sports betting and while it looks amazing on paper, it confronts a couple of big challenges. More importantly in another section.
In this guide we’ll take a deep dip into Texas sports gambling laws to answer:
When will you be able to bet on sports lawfully in Texas?
What’s the new Texas sports betting bill H 1275 about?
How can people in Texas be able to bet on sports if it will become legal?
We’ll also delve into the questions of if it is legal to bet on daily fantasy sports (DFS) at Texas and how the nation’s enormous professional and college athletics culture will play into the legal sports gambling industry we may one day see grow from the Lone Star State.
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Texas Sports Betting Bill Filed Feb 1, 2019 (H 1275)
On February 1, 2019, Rep. Eddie Lucio III filed H 1275, the first sports betting bill in Texas since the US Supreme Court overturned the decades-old federal ban online sports gambling known as PASPA.
We are going to lay out the bill’s main points in a minute but first let’s discuss the main reasons this bill can have difficulty passing.
First of all, it had been introduced by a Democrat and Texas is a staunchly Republican state. Second, for the bill to pass, a referendum to amend the state constitution to add sports gambling must be held. The resolution will need to pass with a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate and be approved in a voter referendum. The earliest that can happen is November, 2019.
Here would be the bill’s main attributes:
Online and mobile sports betting in Texas is going to be legal.
A maximum of five licenses will be marketed. Each permit will allow two online gaming website skins.
Gamblers will cover a 6.25% tax, similar to a revenue tax, on all money payable.
In the event the resolution and bill to amend the constitution pass, sports betting will be legal in Texas on January 1, 2020.
The Current Sports Betting Situation at Texas
Estimates indicate countless dollars of tax revenue could be generated from sports betting legalization which Texas would be the second-biggest sports betting state in the country.
Even without internet and mobile gambling, it’s estimated that Texans will wager $9 billion on sports yearly. A 6.25% tax on those sales would equal over $500 million.
The desire to get that potential earnings is butting up against a largely conservative, anti-gambling establishment which will make for an interesting dynamic if this bill moves ahead.
A prevailing anti-gambling mindset is not the only barrier that this invoice will have to clean. As you’ll read about below, even if the state wished to legalize sports gambling it would still must amend its constitution to allow for gambling on sports.
All types of gaming, with the exclusion of the state lottery and horse and dog racing, is prohibited in Texas.
There is but one tribal casino in the entire state and it isn’t allowed to provide casino table games, only slots.
The gaming laws are amazingly rigid from the Lone Star State and bookmaking is a Class A misdemeanor.
Despite sports gambling being prohibited in Texas, the state’s most significant sports team, the Dallas Cowboys, have agreed to a sponsorship agreement with WinStar World Casino.
With the deal, the Cowboys became the first NFL team to associate with a casino.
This does not mean legalization is coming soon to Texas, however the country’s flagship sports company inking a major deal with a casino company is just another part of the puzzle that is coming together.
Another large factor is that Texas’s neighbors such as New Mexico, Louisiana, and Oklahoma either have fully fledged legalized sports betting or have bills in motion to legalize it. That means Texans will have considerable chance to take their billions of dollars and bet it from state.
Texas Betting Laws Summary
Sports gambling is illegal in Texas.
A sports gambling bill was released in February of 2019 which could take effect on January 1, 2020.
While sports gambling is illegal, dog and horse racing are lawful. The state lottery has been around since 1991.
There’s one tribal casino in Texas, the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass to the Mexico border.
Daily fantasy sports gambling is lawful and DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo! all accept players from Texas.
The History of Online Sports Betting at Texas
There’s no real sports gambling history in Texas. The nation has enforced among the country’s strictest set of anti-gambling laws and it goes way back. Dog and horse racing are all lawful in Texas, nevertheless gamblers can simply place in-person wagers. OTB gambling isn’t permitted.
To Provide the present situation some context, let’s look at the most crucial moments in Texas’s gambling history:
1933 – Texas implements its very first Pari-Mutuel horse race betting.
1937 – Four years into the country’s foray into legal horse racing the paths are closed down and gaming on the races is prohibited.
1971 – Charity gambling is exempted from anti-gambling legislation. A couple of years after this judgment is overturned after more making it illegal again.
1982 – Licenses for charitable gambling are legally sanctioned. This took a change to the state constitution in 1980.
1987 – Pari-mutuel horse track betting reunite as a result of some positive result in a state referendum. Simulcast betting from outside racetracks is released in 1991.
1988 – Casino Cruises are offered which sanction legal gaming as long as they’re in international waters. Vessels depart from the Texas shore. Operations lasted for 20 years before shutting down.
1992 – A referendum passes allowing for a state lottery which includes draws and scratch-off games.
1996 — 2002: Tribal/state compacts come to a head as bingo halls and casinos on tribal lands are closed and reopened several times. Just one tribal casino stays to date which is possessed by the Kickapoo tribe just south of San Antonio near Mexico.
2013 – Many bills are introduced to expand gaming in the state but do not find the light of day. Plans included offering video lottery terminals at racetracks and eight state-licensed casinos.
Which Online Betting Sites Are Legal in Texas?
As of this moment, no internet sports betting sites are lawful. Taking a look at the present sports gambling bill, nevertheless, it’s apparent that the future of authorized Texas sports gambling will incorporate online and mobile gambling choices.
The Lone Star state is exceptional in that it just has one tribal casino, and it’s located near the Texas/Mexico border. It is a good bet that this business will attempt to become involved with a land-based sportsbook and an online gaming program.
Other physical infrastructure as far as casinos is infrequent so we expect the majority of the action to occur online.
Like we mentioned before, the WinStar World Casino created a formal deal with the Dallas Cowboys which may be an indication that it’s considering entering the market.
In addition, we expect established online sports gambling sites that are already operating in different states to apply for permits. This includes brands like BetStars, 888sport and many more.
If legalization will occur, check this page for expert reviews on all the best online sportsbooks in Texas.
Which Sports Could You Bet on Online at Texas?
Texas is one of the most sports mad states in the entire nation, with just two NFL teams, three NBA teams, two MLB teams, two MLS teams, along with an NHL team.
And that does not even tap into their huge collegiate match footprint, with top ranked teams coming from schools such as Texas, Texas Tech, SMU, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M.
If and when legal sports betting comes to Texas, gamblers will be able to bet on favorite North American sports and nearly anything else found anywhere on the planet.
A typical menu of sport Texans will Have the Ability to wager on includes:
NFL Football
NCAA Football
NBA Basketball
NCAA Basketball
NHL Hockey
NCAA Hockey
MLB Baseball
NCAA Baseball
Australian Rules
Boxing
Cricket
Formula 1
Golf
MMA
Nascar
Rugby
Soccer (MLS, Premier League, Champions League, La Liga, International Competitions and much more )
Tennis
Non-sports Entertainment
How to Bet on Sports Legally in Texas
Betting is currently extremely restricted in Texas, with one property tribal casino in the whole state and no bodily sportsbooks.
The sports gambling legislation that’s now in the works gives us an indication of how things will likely work later on.
In other countries that already allow online sports gambling, the process of registering for an account, depositing money and placing legal wagers is actually straightforward.
First read reviews of all of the best online sports betting sites in Texas, find one you enjoy and then sign up for an account. You can usually create an account from everywhere but you have to be in Texas to really make stakes.
You’re going to have to provide some personal info and after your account is set up, you can deposit cash using tons of popular banking options. You may frequently get in on special welcome bonuses and other offers when you deposit.
Once the cash is on your account, just discover the game you need to wager on and put your wager.
Are Daily Fantasy Sports Legal in Texas?
Players can place wagers at favorite DFS gaming websites including FanDuel and DraftKings, but there’s a bit of a legal gray area in regards to if it’s actually valid or not.
While the state does not press charges against everyday fantasy sites, there were ineffective invoices to fully legalize DFS in the past.
The two FanDuel and DraftKings accept Texas players and the country seems content with allowing this play out at a country of legal flux until it fully believes their next steps online sports betting.
Concerning security, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association and the US Gaming Commission are responsible for all DFS activity so at the end of the day, funds on the websites are 100% secure.
What Is the Future of Online Sports Betting in Texas?
While a dark place for legal gambling, Texas’s future so far as sports betting goes has gotten a bit brighter.
There’s still a ways to go but with the introduction of a new bill to legalize sports gambling we’re starting to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
Estimates vary, but the American Sports Betting Coalition believes legalized sports betting could inject almost $2 billion dollars to the local economy and create over 9,000 jobs. With Texans already betting on sports illegally and in other nations, new legislation may actually have a chance of passing.
On the other side of the argument are groups such as the General Baptist Convention of Texas that consists of roughly three million Texans. Not only are they contrary to legal sports betting, they wish to eliminate the entire state lottery.
Rob Kohler is a lobbyist for the Baptist Convention and says the tax on sports betting will hurt the weakest people in the country the most, like the lottery.
“It’d make a sales tax deduction using its regressivity. So, can it be smart for us to fund our government together with all the folks that we are giving money to help? No,” said Kohler.
However, the State lottery did create $1.3 billion in 2017 for the nation’s education system. The taxation revenue from legal sports betting will be even larger.
Questions Remain for Legal Texas Sports Betting
Whether sports gambling is finally legalized in Texas depends on lots of different factors and nobody can predict precisely how it’s likely to perform.
Our very best guess is it will occur but it may not be the recent sports betting bill that gets the work done.
However, if everything goes perfectly and H 1275 moves with a change to the constitution, Texans would have the ability to start gambling on sports lawfully as early as January 1, 2020.
The sheer size of the potential sector and gains, literally billions of dollars, is the largest reason we might observe this laws fast-tracked.
In the meantime, sports gamblers in Texas can bet on DFS, or make the trip to among a couple of nearby countries that are already legalizing full-on sports gambling.
2019 will be a significant year for online sportsbooks in Texas and we’ll post big developments as they occur on this particular page.
Also, browse our country by state guides to legal sports gambling in the united states for more info on other parts of the nation.

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