KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Bills filed on Nov. 9 for the 2027 legislative session would let Texas voters decide whether to allow up to 10 casinos and sports betting.
- The question of whether to allow one or all of the state’s federally recognized tribes to offer full-scale casino gaming is also on the legislative agenda.
- Key Texas leadership positions including governor and lieutenant governor changed in the November 2026 midterms, and industry stakeholders are hopeful it could lay the foundation for expanded gambling.
Expanding Texas gambling is back on the agenda for 2027 amid the state’s political shift.
Lawmakers from both parties filed joint resolutions in each chamber of the legislature on Monday, with the goal of putting commercial casinos and brick-and-mortar sports betting to a vote in 2027.
Nov. 9 was the first day on which bills could be filed for the next legislative session in the Lone Star State, which begins Jan. 12. Legislators introduced several gambling-related measures on Monday, including:
- House Joint Resolution 52 and Senate Joint Resolution 11, which both propose a constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to regulate and tax casino gaming and sports wagering under certain requirements.
- Senate Joint Resolution 12, which proposes a constitutional amendment authorizing the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas to offer gaming by executing a tribal-state gaming compact.
HJR 52 is authored by Republican Rep. Charlie Geren, while the Senate version SJR 11’s author is Democratic Sen. Carol Alvarado.
Texas gambling bills propose up to 10 casino licenses
The texts of HJR 52 and SJR 11 lay out the basic details of a proposed expanded Texas gambling market, which would go before voters as a constitutional amendment at an election to be held Nov. 2, 2027.
The bills share several features in common, including:
- Legal casino gambling would be restricted to on-site gaming at licensed casino operators’ physical premises.
- The state would be authorized to issue a maximum of 10 casino licenses, each with initial terms of at least 40 years.
- Texas law would define which exact activities are defined as “casino gaming” and “sports wagering” and would determine where licensed casinos may be located and where sports betting would be allowed.
- Casino licensees and sports wagering operators would pay an unspecified licensing fee and a tax of no more than 15%
The two versions of the bill have one difference: the text of SJR 11 also includes a provision to establish a commission to regulate authorized Texas gambling. The commission would be funded by state lottery proceeds, as well as the tax revenue and license fees from casino gaming and sports wagering, and would have law enforcement powers including investigative and enforcement authorities.
Texas previously had the Texas Lottery Commission to regulate its lottery gaming, but the agency was disbanded via legislation signed by outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott in 2025 amid wider scrutiny of lottery operations in the state.
Two-thirds of the members of each legislative chamber would have to approve a joint resolution for it to go to a vote at an election.
Texas lawmakers have made similar efforts in past sessions. In 2025, Geren and Alvarado each filed Texas gambling expansion legislation that died in committee, and other lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed for legal sports betting in that session.
Tribal gaming compacts also on Texas gambling legislation agenda
The casino and sports betting resolutions would also mandate that the legislature negotiate and execute a tribal-state gaming compact with any of the three existing federally recognized Indian tribes with lands in the state to allow them to conduct Class III gaming on their existing lands under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
Those nations are:
- Alabama-Coushatta Tribe in East Texas
- Kickapoo in Maverick County
- Ysleta del Sur Pueblo
Those tribes all operate a Class II gaming facility in Texas, but the new legislation would pave the way for them to expand into full casino-style offerings. IGRA requires that any form of commercially available gaming also extend to that state’s tribes, if they want it.
Meanwhile, Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D) filed a separate measure, SJR 12, on Nov. 9. The full text of that legislation was not available at the time of writing, but the summary stated that it proposes a constitutional amendment that would authorize the Kickapoo tribe to execute a gaming compact with the state. The summary made no mention of Alabama-Coushatta or Ysleta del Sur Pueblo. Gutierrez tried a similar idea in past years to no avail.
Familiar Texas gambling ideas, different politics
While the early Texas gambling proposals for 2027 may be similar to past years, the political landscape in the state will be significantly different next year.
As part of a large-scale pivot to blue in Texas in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Democratic candidates won the positions of governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general in the state. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), a longtime vocal opponent of Texas gambling expansion, will not be in office by the time this legislation gets consideration in the legislature.
The Texas lieutenant governor also holds the position of state Senate president. Patrick used that position to kill gambling legislation, including thwarting in 2023 a constitutional amendment to allow sports betting that passed the Texas House by a 101-42 vote.
Patrick’s incoming replacement as Lt. Gov., Vicki Goodwin (D), told local media last year that she believed voters should be allowed to decide on issues such as gambling.
Potential Texas gambling stakeholders speak out after midterms
The idea of legalizing sports betting in Texas has high-profile support from figures such as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who said on Nov. 6 that it legal sports wagering would be good for the state.
“It is a plus in my mind with the best place in the world for sports, Texas, for us to have the gaming and hopefully the new turnover, you might say, in the politics will see it that way,” Jones said on a radio show on Nov. 6.
The political shift also caught the attention of gaming operators. PENN Entertainment, which operates two Class 1 thoroughbred racetracks in Texas, vowed to step up its lobbying efforts in the state with the hope of being able to offer a brick-and-mortar casino or sports wagering in the future.
“It certainly changes the calculus,” Texas billionaire Mark Cuban told SBC Americas Wednesday. “But I have no knowledge of anything that may or may not happen.”
Prediction markets offer Texas sports betting in the meantime
As well as the new politics, the rise of prediction markets since the last legislative gaming effort changes the game.
While commercial casino gambling and sports betting remain illegal in Texas, residents can open their phones, sign up, and gamble on sports within the state’s borders on any one of numerous apps today, including the likes of DraftKings, FanDuel, Kalshi, or Polymarket. Lawmakers in numerous states cited the competition posed by untaxable prediction markets as a motivation for supporting gambling expansion legislation in 2026.
