Casino gambling in Texas: Probably not this session, says lawmaker – LubbockOnline.com

Every couple months or so, the Villanuevas take a road trip.

Lifelong Lubbockite Ida Villanueva and her husband cross the state line into Hobbs, New Mexico, then enjoy a weekend getaway at the casino.

But what if they could just drive down the road?

I would be great, Villanueva said. Were actually driving out of state to deposit money. If we can just do it here, it would be even better.

Casino gambling is legal in most neighboring states, but not in Texas. An exception is the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, which is located on Native American land and not subject to the states gambling laws.

The Lone Star State has seen attempts to change that status quo, but not recently.

It probably wont be a hot topic this season.

I havent heard from Austin anyone who thinks its going to go anywhere this session, state Rep. Dustin Burrows said.

The Lubbock Republican speculates its possible for pro-gamblers to emerge on the political scene later, but has no reason to anticipate those efforts getting very far.

A-J Media did not receive a response from Let Texans Decide, a group that has led a push for casino gambling.

A majority of the Texans A-J Media questioned were in favor of the idea of casinos in their state.

I would love it, said one of them, Yolanda Torrez of Brownfield. The revenue it would bring to Texas would be great, and the jobs it would create would be great. Yes, they need to do it.

A local supporter, Juli Wyatt, agreed, I love the idea jobs would be created.

On the opposition side, folks worry about low-income gamblers losing what little they have.

I would rather not have it, Msgr. Gerry Leatham said.

The area priest Father Gerry, as hes known to his Brownfield parishioners has observed many visitors to New Mexico casinos gamble heavily, despite appearing less than wealthy. Its hard for him not to wonder if theyre spending more than they should.

Not having casinos, were missing out on a lot of tax revenue, he said. But on the other side, a lot of people with very little means would be tempted to gamble. Id rather have it out of our state. Its a tremendous addiction as well.

Burrows is similarly opposed, but only partly on moral grounds he doesnt see casinos as money-makers for local communities. For instance, gamblers arent necessarily pumping extra money into the local economy, but are spending what would be better spent at local businesses.

The companies that came in would be from out of state, he said. They would take all the money from the local economy back to their home state.

And the representative agrees with Father Gerry that money dropped into slot machines and card tables isnt always disposable income some serious gamblers have nothing left for necesseties, leaving government programs to help them get by.

I think theres the concern people would gamble away money they didnt have to spend, he said. I see a big economic drain. Society and governments going to end up spending more on them to take care of it.

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Casino gambling in Texas: Probably not this session, says lawmaker - LubbockOnline.com