Texas Sports Betting May Be Even Further Away Than Most Think

As many already know, the legalization of Texas sports betting is off the table for 2025. As many also already know, the age of new gambling laws is considered years away. 

But what many may not actually know is that even the more pessimistic projections undersell the lack of for sports betting in Texas moving forward.

This feels borderline impossible on its face. The Texas sports betting market has a chance to be the biggest, if not second biggest, in the entire country. Coverage of its legalization attempts continues to spread far and wide. If industry insiders and experts are already saying online Texas sports betting has little chance of going live before the end of the decade, how is that underselling the situation? 

Well, as it turns out, even the more pragmatic evaluators may not fully grasp the lack of . The potential flaw in analysis, in fact, might be the hyper-focus on sports betting itself. So many paint the future of Texas sports betting as a singular issue. Really, though, it is inextricably tied to the legalization of the casino industry, and the fate of the Texas state lottery. In reality, The Lone Star State is unlikely to have one without the others. As of now, Texas only features a state lottery.

That can technically change. Some are even now predicting it will change. However, those changes will not align with the hopes of Texas sports betting ers.

Texas Sports Betting Stands Little Chance of Legalization if the State Lottery Gets Banned

Never mind the potential expansion of Texas gambling laws. The state may actually be restricting their stance even further. As Ryan Butler of Covers explains, officials recently voted to terminate the Texas State Lottery:

“The potential termination of the Texas Lottery underscores the difficulty that more controversial forms of gambling face in attempting to enter the state. The Texas state Senate earlier this week voted unanimously to end the state lottery commission and place the lottery under the purview of a separate state entity. If the bill is ed by the House, it could give officials the right to end the lottery in 2027. Forty-five states have a government-run lottery. None have repealed their offering since the modern lotteries began in the 1960s.”

This is a potential landmark moment for the future of legal sports betting apps in Texas. 

All along, the assumption has been that the introduction of sports betting would take time. Opposition among the majority party, the Republicans, is quite strong. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who has a ton of influence over the Senate and its agenda, is among the most outspoken detractors of sports betting legalization.

Still, the future of Texas sports betting typically gets portrayed as a matter of “when” rather than “if.” After all, 40 other states will offer some form of legal wagering by the end of 2025. Plus, there is too much money at stake to simply ignore. Rough estimates have Texas sports betting generating $300-plus million annually once the market is established. 

Terminating the lottery, though, implies a continued hard-line stance against most forms of gambling. This includes the casino industry, which has stakeholders who have increasingly tried to position themselves to capitalize on eventual legalization. 

Terminating the State Lottery would Cost Texas More Money Than You’ll Believe

Everything always seems to come back down to dollars and cents. Make no mistake, the rise of online sports betting in the United States has its downsides. Plenty of them, actually. But most states have to some extent overlooked them in the name of lucrative revenue streams.

Texas will be bucking that trend in a big way if the lottery eventually dissipates. As Butler notes: “The Texas Lottery has generated more than $35 billion dollars in revenue for state education and veteran benefits since it sold its first ticket in 1992. It is the nation’s fourth-highest-grossing lottery, after New York, California, and Florida.”

Punting on this amount of money seems unfathomable. Think of it this way: On average, the Texas lottery has brought in (approximately) $1.1 billion of revenue each year. If Texas suddenly es on that additional infusion, it will send a pretty salient message. 

At the very least, the primary argument for Texas sports betting legalization will begin to fall apart. The overarching belief is that hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue each year will win out. And yet, Texas is exploring a path that could cost the state over $1 billion on an annual basis. 

The Next Legislative Sessions is Shaping Up to be a Big One for Texas Sports Betting

The stakes are going to be high when the Texas state legislature convenes again. Sure, this was always going to be the case. But that’s because sports betting and casino legalizatin were supposed to be the focus. 

Now, though, it appears The Lone Star State will be adding the fate of the lottery to the fold. And if officials go through with terminating it in 2027, it will invariably set back the nonexistent Texas sports betting timeline by an exponentially large factor.

Forget about wondering if sports wagering will launch by 2030. Or even by 2035. The termination of the Texas state lottery would effectively leave open what has always seemed like an unlikely scenario: that the state will never co-sign the legalization of sports betting.

Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: