Dan Patrick has blocked gambling bills in recent sessions, insisting on majority GOP support. But the bigger obstacle may be the Senate itself.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced last month that he will seek another term in 2026, a move that likely pushes sports betting and casino gambling further out of reach in the Lone Star State.
Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, has repeatedly blocked sports betting and casino bills in recent sessions. He has said measures need majority Republican support in the Senate before he will allow them to be heard.
While the gambling industry has considered Patrick to be the major foil to gambling issues, he has offered little public commentary on his personal or political stance toward gambling. But the Dallas Morning News recently reported it may be a mistake to view Patrick as the sole obstacle.
“If I was the Sands Corporation, I’d be trying to count my Senate votes and quit worrying about Dan Patrick,” Austin-based consultant Mike Lavigne told the newspaper. “Patrick is not as big a problem as the rest of the Senate is. And if they had the votes in the Senate, Patrick wouldn’t be a problem.”
As an incumbent, Patrick is unlikely to face opposition in the Republican primary next March, according to local media.
Previous Texas sports betting efforts
The Texas legislature meets every other year. This year, sports betting and casino gambling bills were effectively dead on arrival, as Patrick said they would not be considered in the Senate. There was also a group of a dozen House lawmakers who said they would oppose “any attempt to expand gambling” earlier this year.
Before Patrick and the bloc of House lawmakers announced their opposition, industry proponents were fairly bullish on legalisation hopes in 2025.
That followed an effort in 2023 that saw sports betting make its way through the House with a two-thirds majority. Gambling expansion requires a constitutional amendment, meaning it needs approval by a two-thirds majority in both chambers and a majority of Texas voters at the polls.
Following the House passage in 2023, Patrick doused hopes of sports betting legalisation via a comment on Twitter and the Senate did not hear the bill.
“Texas is a red state,” Patrick said in the post. “Yet the House vote on sports betting was carried by a Dem majority. The Texas Senate doesn’t pass bills with GOP in the minority. The GOP majority guides our path.”
Texas coalition continues push
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said he has no objection to gambling expansion and a University of Houston poll reported that 60% of Texans support online sports betting. If it approved legalisation, Texas could become the largest legal sports betting market in the US.
The Texas Sports Betting Alliance is an organisation that represents major sportsbook companies and the state’s professional sports teams. Team owners, like the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, have sought to sway Patrick’s opinion.
Heading into this year’s legislative session, gambling interests poured millions into Texas. Las Vegas Sands owner Miriam Adelson donated nearly $14 million to legislators during 2024. Adelson purchased a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks last year.
Despite some of those contributions going to Patrick, he continued to repeat there was not enough support for the issue and the Texas GOP platform opposes gambling expansion.
Patrick told WFAA in November 2024 that gambling backers “spent millions and millions of dollars and just think that magically it happens. It doesn’t.”
