Texas Lawmakers Consider New Poker Legislation - Law Could Net State of Texas $155 Million Per Year

Texas lawmakers are debating a new law that would make cash games of poker legal in the state. At the moment, the bill is stuck in committee, despite obvious support from the gambling public. Now, the state representative who is championing the bill has said the state will throw away $155 million if it does not pass the law.

Texas State Representative Jose Menendez is trying to move the bill through the Texas House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee. Recent hearings revealed substantial support on the committee for the law, though some fear the committee will never pass it to the floor of the Texas legislature.

Menendez is trying to draw attention to the costs of not passing the bill. He suggests that the first year the law would be in effect, the state would rake in about $35 million dollars. By 2012, poker will create $155,000,000 in tax revenues.

The representative says his numbers are probably conservative. Texas has no state income tax, though it continually tries to jack up property taxes. Governor Rick Perry is considering selling the state lottery to private interests, in the hopes this will net bigger profits from the lottery.

So this isn't a bad tactic for Rep. Menendez. If he can get a little traction in the media, the lost revenues debate should gain support from the public.

This is a recurring theme in this blog. The poker community seems to lack the organization (and therefore political power) of other gambling lobbies. It's entirely within the power of poker players to change that, because poker is the most glamorous gambling past time out there.

At committee hearings recently, 64 pro-poker witnesses advocated the bill. 2 anti-poker advocates showed up to speak out against the proposed law. Mail to the committee members has shown overwhelming support for the bill. That may not translate to passage of the law.

One of the problems is certain gambling operations are against the bill. In Texas, the racetracks are trying to kill the bill, or rewrite it so their venues will be the only ones which can legally house poker games. With only 11 racetracks throughout the immense state of Texas, this law would effectively kill legal live poker games for most Texans.

The hypocrisy is that these racetrack moguls continually align with the moralists. They are able to keep a straight face when they say horse track gambling is moral, while online gambling isn't. Even so-called moral authorities like Pat Robertson have owned $250 thousand race horses in the past.

Hopefully, this law passes. If Texas makes poker legal, gamblers have hope that legal poker is possible anywhere.

Texas Lawmakers Consider New Poker Legislation - Law Could Net State of Texas $155 Million Per Year