The potential termination of the Texas Lottery underscores the difficulty that more controversial forms of gambling face in attempting to enter the state.
- Texas Lottery Faces Potential Termination: The state Senate voted to end the Texas Lottery Commission, highlighting increasing resistance to gambling
- Gambling Expansion Efforts Stalled: Despite strong public support, sports betting and casino bills lack traction in the Senate.
- No Legal Gambling Changes Until 2028: With the legislature meeting in odd years and requiring voter approval in even years, the earliest change could come in 2028
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 passed 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 None have repealed their offering since the modern lotteries began in the 1960s.
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 Texas.
Lawmakers have looked to alter the lottery after a group used DraftKings-owned Jackpocket, a lottery courier service, to buy enough tickets to effectively guarantee they won the jackpot. Jackpocket has since stopped operating in the state and the lottery commission director resigned.
Texas gambling background
The pressure on the lottery comes as the Texas legislature has more aggressively moved to pursue conservative causes following the 2024 elections that saw more Republicans elected to what was already a GOP-controlled body. This has included taking an even firmer stance against gambling.
Besides the lottery, several horse tracks, and several tribal casinos, there are few other legal gambling opportunities in Texas, the nation’s second-most populated state. Some of the largest casinos in the world are in Oklahoma, feet from the Texas border, and casinos in bordering Louisiana towns, including Lake Charles and Shreveport, see millions of visits from Texans annually.
Despite Texans' proclivity to gamble, the state has remained against legal gaming, even as attitudes have softened across much of the rest of the country.
Thirty-eight states have legalized sports betting since 2018. The Texas State House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill in 2023 that would have allowed Texans to approve sportsbooks. The Senate did not take up the bill.
Though support remains in the House, Senate President Dan Patrick told lawmakers not to bother passing a bill during the 2025 session. Patrick, the state’s Lt. Gov. and one of the more prominent conservative political figures in the country, has not supported gambling expansion efforts.
Texas casino legalization supporters have said Patrick would bring the bill to a vote if it had majority support in the Republican caucus. But with a GOP-controlled Senate that increasingly aligns with Patrick’s conservative views, it is unlikely any gambling legislation will garner enough support to meet the Lt. Gov’s demand.
Despite the opposition, Las Vegas Sands has spent millions lobbying to get a destination casino resort in the Dallas metro area. Las Vegas Sands' majority owner Mirriam Adelson also owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, which she acquired in 2023 as the company ramped up lobbying efforts.
Texas lawmakers are seriously considering getting rid of the state lottery.
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) May 20, 2025
Sports betting, and especially casinos, are not going to come easily.
These efforts have not resulted in a vote on casinos. Sports betting, despite separate lobbying efforts and polls that show widespread support, was not seriously considered during the 2025 session.
With Texas lawmakers only set to meet in odd-numbered years, and any gambling expansion requiring voter approval on a statewide ballot that comes in even-numbered years, it means Texas sports betting or casinos couldn’t be approved until November 2028 at the earliest.
With the current political makeup in the legislature and its growing antagonism towards even widely popular existing forms of gambling, it could be far longer before any new gambling option comes to the Lone Star State.
