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Texans could get to gamble on casinos
1535 Views ::
7 Comments ::  :: South Padre Island, Economy |
Texans could get to Decide to Allow Casinos
 Texans would get to decide whether to allow casino resorts in cities such as South Padre Island and slot machines at dog tracks under legislation proposed by two Texas senators.
You can bet on a battle, even among some gambling proponents, the issue for many comes down to money and morality.
State Sens. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, are proposing Senate Joint Resolution 45 and Senate Bill 1359, which they say would generate about $4 billion a year in revenues for the state and would earmark $1 billion for higher education financial aid programs.
The resolution calls for a constitutional amendment that would allow, if voters approved it, limited casino gambling in Texas, including on resort islands and video lottery games at horse and greyhound racetracks around the state.
The constitutional amendment would need approval of two-thirds of the Legislature before it went before voters in November. Counties in which casino operators seek permits also could reject gambling, the lawmakers say.
“If voters of Texas don’t want it, turn it down,” Ellis said. “And even if voters legalize it statewide, if the county doesn’t want it, turn it down. It’s hard for me to see what the big political uproar is about.”
SB 1359 provides the detailed legal framework to regulate gambling in a state where social conservatives time and again have rejected casinos and slot machines.
The legislation would allow up to 12 casinos in Texas, spread among resort islands, Indian reservations and urban areas. It also would allow for slot machines at the eight dog- and horseracing tracks around the state.
And it would require big casino operators to spend at least $400 million for land and development costs in urban areas and $200 million on island resorts, such as South Padre Island.
Ellis and Carona argue that Texans already spend $10 billion a year on gambling by traveling to states such as Louisiana and Oklahoma, where casino gambling is legal.
Texans buy lottery tickets, place bets at racetracks, gamble online and help keep the illegal eight-liner industry humming, they say. Money Texans spend on gambling pays for public education and roads in other states, Carona said.
“Our legislation would capture gambling, regulate it, protect neighborhoods and make sure Texans benefit from it,” he said.
Although the Legislature expects $14.3 billion in new revenue in the next two-year budget period, it’s also looking for new revenue to cover promised school property tax relief.
It’s long been rumored that developers are waiting in the wings for South Padre Island to get casino gambling.
Opponents say casinos bring with them gambling addictions, social ills and a 24-hour neon lifestyle to cities where they operate.
Many believe profoundly that casinos here would be far more destructive than any benefits they could bring to the island. It could be destructive to the island businesses, neighborhoods and the island’s vitality.
Before the legislative session is done, lawmakers are expected to propose other gambling measures. Passing them won’t be easy, political observers say.
“It’s got a rough way to go,” said Gregory Weiher, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “There is a strong morally conservative constituency in Texas that is dead set against this kind of legislation.”
From an article by Laura Elder - The Daily News
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By
Alfonso Ramos @
Friday, August 31, 2007 6:32 PM | |
I would have to agree with most of the comments made by one of the senators that countless texans spend billions on lottery tickets, scratch off, dog racing, bingo, and traveling to Louisiana and Oklahoma and Las Vegas to spend their money on entertainment. Why not legalize gambling here in Texas and keep the revenues here where they belong. Never mind morality: the above gambling games are already here and people play them everyday. What should be illigal here and everywhere else is smoking and sales of alcoholic beverages which account for large amounts of death each year. Gambling is a choice people make, for me its a form of entertainment and I am not jeportizing the lives of anyone. Its my choice. |
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By
bill @
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 7:33 PM | |
please i hope gambling is legal in padre island. i have property in the area and i would love to live their instead of renting it out for 400 a month. such a great house in great location. I live in a similar house in new jerset that can be rented for 3000 a month because of atlantic city. please open please please god hear me and open this casino or 2 or 3. |
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By
Dee @
Monday, October 15, 2007 8:29 AM | |
I think if people want to spend their money on gambling so be it. Gambling is fun and exciting we need more of than around here. SO I WOULD VOTE YES BRING ON THOSE CASINOS! |
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By
AL. Ramos @
Monday, October 15, 2007 8:35 PM |
As free moral agents we have the right to do as we please as far as we are not harming anyone in the process. We live in America and the right to make our own choices is a given right. All those persons that claim that if slots are allowed in TX. would be morally wrong. How is that???? What about the Lotto??? How about the Bingos??? How about smoking???? How about DWI'S???? How about dog/horse racing???? Countless pizzza establishments have video games for children to play after their meal, they exchange money for tokens. Its a form of gambling but they don't call it that. The government makes a profit from all the above but we don't have to vote not to pay taxes for those things. I bet that most if not all those persons that oppose slots do something else for entertainment. I don't care what they are doing with their money or their choice of entertainment, its not my business to decide for anyone what they should do or not to do. We already have plenty of corruption in the world, you think that casinos will add more????. I don't think so, if I don't want to visit a casino no one is forcing me to do it, its my choice. We are already financing other establishments in Louisiana and Oklahoma and Las Vegas and every other state outside of Texas-Hello! If you don't want casinos in Texas, then move to where there are casinos already, there are everywhere. Its just another business, just like auto dealerships, they take your money and it does'nt matter if you complain, they are making a commission from you whether you like it or not. I don't like a lot of things that businesses do with my money but I don't have a choice in that. I don't like paying too much for a gallon of gas but I need the service. I think you all know where I am coming from. If we as Texans don't gamble in our own state, we are going to gamble somewhere else. Think about it. Thanks. AL.
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By
N.Muniz @
Sunday, May 25, 2008 7:03 PM | |
I feel that bringing gambling legally would probably benefit those that go to casinos that are operating illegally. At least you know that licensing and regulations would be followed and closely monitored. There are people making millions with no accounting to take care of whatsoever. They are ?????? you, local revenues and the IRS. |
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Wednesday, June 04, 2008 4:07 AM |
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