{"id":1942970,"date":"2023-06-02T15:46:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T19:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-texans-successfully-killed-casino-gambling-but-the-fight-isnt-over-yet\/"},"modified":"2023-06-02T15:50:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T19:50:53","slug":"op-ed-texans-successfully-killed-casino-gambling-but-the-fight-isnt-over-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-texans-successfully-killed-casino-gambling-but-the-fight-isnt-over-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans stopped casino gambling, but the battle continues."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fop-ed-texans-successfully-killed-casino-gambling-but-the-fight-isnt-over-yet%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1942970&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Texans Successfully Killed Casino Gambling, But the Fight Isn&#8217;t Over Yet<\/h2>\n<p>For the past six months, the Texas Capitol has been flooded with lobbyists pushing to bring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-judge-strikes-down-desantis-gambling-expansion-appeal-pending\/\" title=\"Trump Judge Strikes Down DeSantis\u2019 Gambling Expansion, Appeal Pending\">casino gambling<\/a> to Texas. They spent millions of dollars trying to convince lawmakers to support a <a href=\"https:\/\/texasscorecard.com\/state\/texas-gov-greg-abbott-signals-support-for-casino-gambling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-legislature-introduces-first-in-nation-resolution-to-protect-against-democrat-court-packing\/\" title=\"Arizona Legislature Introduces First-In-Nation Resolution To Protect Against Democrat 'Court Packing'\">constitutional amendment<\/a><\/a> removing the state\u2019s prohibition on casino gambling and welcoming Las Vegas-style casinos to the Lone Star State. Despite their efforts, pro-casino forces failed to convince lawmakers to support the proposal.<\/p>\n<p>While bringing casinos to Texas might be a jackpot for casino operators, it would deal a bad hand to Texas communities by increasing crime and addiction and damaging Texas families. Legalizing casino gambling in the Lone Star State would lead to increased addiction, divorce, and even homelessness.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cCasinos do incredible damage to every community they touch. At Texas Family Project, we want what happens in Vegas to stay in Vegas, not come to Houston, San Antonio, or Fort Worth,\u201d said Texas Family Project policy director Austin Griesinger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Multiple studies have backed up Griesinger\u2019s claims about the increase in crime, and research shows gambling can be just as addictive as drugs and alcohol. As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/compulsive-gambling\/symptoms-causes\/syc-20355178#:~:text=Gambling%20can%20stimulate%20the%20brain%27s,fraud%20to%20support%20your%20addiction.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mayo Clinic<\/a> notes, \u201cCompulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The Fight Against Casino Gambling<\/h3>\n<p>The specific legislation Texas Family Project opposed, and ultimately helped to kill, was <a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/BillLookup\/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&#038;Bill=HJR155\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Joint Resolution 155<\/a>, a constitutional amendment that (if passed) would legalize casino gambling in Texas, allow up to eight casinos in the state, and create the \u201cTexas Gaming Commission\u201d to oversee the industry.<\/p>\n<p>The main advocate for this legislation was the Texas Destination Resort Alliance, a group set up by the Nevada-based Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Worth more than $20 billion, Sands was owned by casino magnate and political donor Sheldon Adelson. However, control of the company shifted to his wife, medical doctor and drug abuse treatment clinic operator Miriam Adelson, following his death in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>In her former profession, Miriam Adelson was actually helping families heal from the destructive addictions that harm so many in society. Now, she is spending millions on lobbyists in an attempt to increase her company\u2019s profits.<\/p>\n<p>Efforts to bring casinos to Texas have long been opposed by the grassroots of the Texas GOP, which prevented Adelson\u2019s lobbyists from altering the party\u2019s platform to be more casino-friendly at the state convention and then engaged actively in the legislature to oppose gambling legislation.<\/p>\n<p>In March, the Texas GOP unanimously passed a resolution exposing efforts to bring casino gambling to Texas, stating, \u201cThe Republican Party of Texas calls on all Republican Texas Legislators to cease and desist with any efforts to open the State of Texas to casino gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to grassroots opposition, HJR 155 ultimately fell eight votes short of the two-thirds vote it needed to pass the Texas House. A bill to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/op-ed-texans-successfully-killed-casino-gambling-but-the-fight-isnt-over-yet\/\" title=\"Texans stopped casino gambling, but the battle continues.\">legalize online sports betting<\/a> (HB 1942) did pass the House but was killed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who said there was not sufficient support for the measure in the state Senate.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I\u2019ve said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming from Senate GOP. I polled members this week. Nothing changed. The senate must focus on issues voters expect us to pass. We don\u2019t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support. HB1942 won\u2019t be referred.\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LtGovTX\/status\/1657442546535079938?\">May 13, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>The Dangers of Casino Gambling<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens in Vegas stays in Vegas\u201d is the slogan everyone is familiar with hearing on TV commercials. They feature bright lights, fancy hotels and restaurants, and impressive shows. They paint the image that Las Vegas is a wonderful place to go on vacation. What they don\u2019t paint is the image that Las Vegas is a great place to raise a family. Indeed, Sin City doesn\u2019t rank very highly in that regard.<\/p>\n<p>Based on FBI data, Las Vegas has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-county-stops-all-daytime-police-patrols-due-to-police-shortage\/\" title=\"California County Stops All Daytime Police Patrols Due to Police Shortage\">crime rate higher<\/a> than 90 percent of cities in the state of Nevada. The chance that a person will become a victim of a violent crime in Las Vegas \u2014 such as armed robbery, aggravated assault, rape or murder \u2014 is 1 in 205. It\u2019s for this reason and others that Nevada was recently ranked one of the worst states in America to raise a family by WalletHub.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next two years, grassroots Texans will need to work even harder to convince lawmakers that Texas families are more important than the profits of casino operators. The fight against casino gambling in Texas may have been won this time, but the battle is far from over.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/op-ed-texans-successfully-killed-casino-gambling-fight-isnt-yet\/\">Op-Ed: Texans Successfully Killed Casino Gambling, But the Fight Isn&#8217;t Over Yet<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lobbyists spent millions in the past six months to bring casino gambling to Texas, flooding the Capitol. They aimed to remove the state&#8217;s prohibition on casinos and welcome Las Vegas-style establishments. Despite their efforts, lawmakers did not support the constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2072,"featured_media":1942971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[6731,21080,7046,23297,6115,14211],"class_list":["post-1942970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily","tag-battle","tag-casino","tag-continues","tag-gambling","tag-stopped","tag-texans"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1942970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1942971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1942970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1942970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1942970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}