Kevin Stitt announced a plan in November to allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos and online sports wagering through platforms licensed by the state. Neighboring Oklahoma already has scores of casinos run by tribes. But the state Legislature is not in regular session in 2024, and Texas has no means of placing citizen initiatives on the ballot. The proposed sale of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team to a politically active family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company has raised speculation of a bigger push for legal sports betting in Texas.
Those tensions have continued, with Native American tribes objecting to a new sports betting initiative that is seeking signatures to appear on the 2024 ballot. The advertising barrage was fueled by divisions among online gaming companies, tribal casinos and horse tracks. Voters in California last year overwhelmingly defeated two rival sports betting initiatives following a record $463 million raised by supporters and opponents.
But neither appear particularly likely to adopt it in 2024. California and Texas, the nation’s two most populous states, would be the biggest prizes for sports bettors.
