Texas Legalize Sports Gambling

Persuasive Speech Outline

James Nielsen, Staff / Houston Chronicle A Texas lawmaker wants to legalize casino gambling in some Texas counties and use some of the proceeds to provide relief to residents affected by future. Legal Online Sports Betting Age in Texas. As previously mentioned, the Texas sports betting activities are currently illegal and no official minimum age has been set. As marijuana, medical or recreational has not been legalized, there is no age to be compared with. In Texas, a combination of political clout from out-of-state casino interests and social conservatives who are morally opposed to gambling have effectively killed any prospects for legalized.

Legalizing Casino Gambling in Texas
Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my class about why legalizing casino gambling in Texas is for the better. Thesis Statement: Legalizing casino gambling in the state of Texas would enhance society and will be beneficial for the entire state. Organizational Pattern: Problem-Solution

AUSTIN, TX (KLTV) - The Texas House and Senate could take up a measure to legalize sports betting in the state. House Joint Resolution 61, filed by State Rep. Eddie Luccio III of Brownsville, seeks to amend the Texas Constitution to read “(f) The legislature by law may authorize and regulate the placing of wagers on professional.

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Introduction
I. Did you know that gambling generates more revenue than movies, spectator sports, theme parks, cruise ships and recorded music combined (“Statistics gambling facts,”)? II. Regardless of your opinion of gambling, the legalization of casino gambling is important because of all the benefits it will bring for the citizens of Texas.

III. Jim Pitts, Texas House Appropriations Chairman, said that legalized casinos in Texas could bring in one billion dollars in the first two years and about four billion dollars each subsequent year (Stutz, 2010). IV. Legalizing casino gambling in the state of Texas would enhance society and will be beneficial for the entire state. V. First, the state of Texas loses much needed revenue to other states.

Second, legalized gambling would ensure the underworld would not be in power. Third, we will discuss what you can do to aid in legalizing casino gambling and solving the fore-mentioned problems. (To begin, we need to look at the current economic problems in Texas.)

Body
I. First of all, the Lone Star state would greatly be able to advance her economy if we legalized casino gambling.

A. Texas is losing billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to relieve society’s social and economic problems.

A.1. According to Politifact.com, Texas residents are spending an outrageous 2.5 billion dollars at casinos located in our border states, such as Louisiana and Oklahoma (“Texans spend $2.5,” 2011). A.1.a. Texas residents’ vacation at other states and spend money at the casinos, hotels, gas stations and restaurants. Why should we go to other states and spend money there when we should be spending it in our own state? A.1.b. If casinos were legal in Texas, tourists would visit Texas and spend money, which would enrich our economy. A.2. Legalizing casino gambling would create more jobs, thus lowering the unemployment rate. A.2.a. This would lead to people not relying on social welfare programs provided by the government. A.2.b. Therefore, it would alleviate the budget allocated to welfare, which means the state could spend that money on education and other much needed programs. B. Furthermore, Texas would be able to tax the casinos.

B.1. Legalizing gambling would let Texas collect tax revenue from casinos and those who profit from playing.

B.1.a. The government could tax the casinos higher because Texas charges extra for sin taxes.

B.1.b. People who gamble also have to pay a certain portion of their earnings to the federal government.

B.2. In addition, Texas could collect revenue from licenses the casino owners would need to possess in order to stay in business. (Next, we need to look at the how illegal gambling creates criminals, which hurts society.) II. The legalization of gambling would bring the underworld of illegal gambling to a rest.

A. When I lived in Brownsville, Texas, I recall hearing a news story about a large group of people getting arrested for illegal casino gambling like they have committed a heinous crime. (Vela, 2012) A.1. If casino gambling were legal numerous people would not be in jail for something that is legal in numerous states next to us. A.2. Also, legalizing casino gambling would give the power of regulating casinos to the state as opposed to unauthorized individuals.

B. Legalizing casino gambling would mean that less time and money is wasted searching for illegal gaming arenas. B.1. Police effort could be focused more on other serious criminal issues, like solving murder, rather than gambling. B.2. Legalizing casino gambling would keep so called criminals out of jail and lessen the number of people in the prison system. (There is hope for solving the problems that arise because gambling is illegal.) III. Third, there are solutions to help solve the problems that come from not legalizing casino gambling.

A. Residents of the state of Texas need to petition to their local representatives.

A.1. You can write or call your local representative and express how you think legalizing casinos will help reduce crime and increase revenue for the state.

Gambling

A.2. Gather friends to contact their representatives because a large majority can have the issue placed on election ballots.

B. Once the issue is placed on the ballot, we need to vote for legalizing casinos.

B.1. People need to become informed of the positives of legalizing gambling

B.2. Finally, they should vote for legalizing.

(Legalizing casino gambling is the best for Texas.)

Conclusion
I. To review, Texas does not allow casino gambling.

Texas Legalize Sports Gambling Odds

A. Texas has lost billions of dollars in revenue to other states.

Texas Legalize Sports Gambling Laws

B. In addition, illegal gambling has given crime lords power of controlling gaming set up in illegal casinos.

C. Nevertheless, Texas can solve this issue by legalizing casino gambling.

II. Legalizing casino gambling in the state of Texas would enhance society and will be beneficial for the entire state. III. Since there are no casinos in Texas, I will be driving six hours to Louisiana. If gambling were legal I would not have to make such a long journey. So lets save ourselves the trouble of having to drive all the way to Louisiana and lets try to convince our state government to legalize casino gambling.

Reference List
Statistics gambling facts & stats. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gamble/etc/facts.html

Stutz, H. (2010, May 13). Texas legislator pushes legalized gaming as budget salve. Retrieved from http://www.lvrj.com/business/texas-legislator-pushes-legalized-gaming-as-budget-salve-93662924.html

Texans spend $2.5 billion gambling in our neighboring states every year. (2011, April 19). Retrieved from http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/apr/29/texans-economic-devel

The Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018 in Murphy v. NCAA, holding that PASPA “regulate[s] state governments’ regulation of their citizens,” which is not a power given to congress by the Constitution. As a win for New Jersey and other states seeking to legalize sports betting, the Supreme Court held that PASPA was a violation of the 10th Amendment, which stipulates that powers not given to the federal government or expressly taken away from states are given to the states. Basically, congress is able to regulate sports betting directly, but cannot tell the states how to regulate the industry.

What is PASPA & What Did it Do?

PASPA made several activities unlawful. Specifically, a state could not “sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, license, or authorize” by law a “lottery, sweepstakes, or other betting, gambling, or wagering scheme based on competitive sporting events.” 28 USC §3702(1) and (2). Sports gambling on its own was not a federal crime, but the Attorney General and professional or amateur sports organizations were legally allowed to sue the state civilly and join violations together. Four states were allowed to continue operations that had existed in those states at the time PASPA was passed. Additionally, New Jersey was allowed to set up a gambling scheme so long as it did so within a year of PASPA becoming law.

The following activities based on competitive sporting events were not allowed:

When Will Texas Legalize Sports Gambling

  • Sponsorship, operation, advertisement, promotion, licensing or authorization
  • Lottery, sweepstakes or other betting, gambling or wagering scheme

New Jersey passed the law that became the crux of the SCOTUS case in 2014. That law repealed New Jersey’s prohibitions against sports-gambling for individuals over 21 years old, so long as the bets were placed at a casino, gambling house, or horse track in Atlantic City, and only on sporting events. Gambling on college sports or events in the state were not part of the allowed activities.Although New Jersey was allowed to set up a gambling scheme, it failed to do so within the permitted year. The state then decided that it did want to legalize sports gambling. The problem was that New Jersey took years to come to that decision – long after the period of time allowed by PASPA. As a result, the NCAA and several major sports leagues sued New Jersey on a PASPA violation. New Jersey argued that PASPA violated constitutional law, specifically anticommandeering principles, by prohibiting states from changing or striking down laws, in this case laws that pertained to sports betting.

What Were the Odds?

Proponents of legalizing sports betting argued that legalizing the activity will generate revenue for states and reduce the strength of illegal betting organizations. Opponents of legalization argued that legalizing sports gambling will push people toward gambling and encourage unreasonable spending and financial practices.

The Supreme Court on Sports Gambling

The Supreme Court held that anticommandeering is a core right in the Constitution and equates to congress being unable to directly order the states to comply with something. Anticommandeering is just what is sounds like. The doctrine prevents the federal government from imposing restrictions on or “commandeering” state governments, especially in terms of laws that aim to target state activity by controlling or creating mandatory duties for the state legislatures or state officials. The Supreme Court stated that the federal government and the states both have sovereign powers that support our system of “dual sovereignty,” Murphy v. NCAA, (citing Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U. S. 452, 457 (1991)).

The Supreme Court held that congress did not have the authority to ban states from regulating sports gambling within their own state. PASPA was found to be a violation of the anticommandeering rule because it gave direct orders to state legislatures and prohibited states from authorization activity. As a result, the Supreme Court did not even need to evaluate whether New Jersey violated the PASPA anti-licensing provision.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court held that while Congress may regulate sports gambling by creating a federal set of guidelines for the industry, it could not force states to regulate their own industry.

Texas Legalize Sports Gambling

Are There Larger Implications Within & Outside of Sports Betting?

Yes. Financially, allowing legal sports betting could bring a huge revenue influx to states that choose to allow it. For example, in Nevada, Las Vegas pulls in several billion dollars a year through sports betting. The illegal sports betting market is estimated at up to $100 billion dollars. By legalizing, this market would shift to legal venues and generate money for the state.

There are also non-gambling implications of the law. For example, Amy Howe, a writer for SCOTUSblog, wrote that supporters of “sanctuary-cities” may use this ruling as a precedent to not follow directions, rules, and laws set forth by immigration officials.

Can Congress Do Anything to Ban or Regulate Sports Betting?

Probably. Even though PASPA has been struck down and is no longer valid law, Congress could create a set of federal rules or guidelines that would give rise to uniformity among states.

What Exactly Does this Mean?

Will Texas Legalize Sports Gambling

SCOTUS struck down the existing sports-gambling restriction that prevented states from regulating their own sports-betting industries. Now, states are free to engage in modifying, creating, or otherwise affecting sports-related gambling in their own state. Congress may move to create legislation to regulate the industry as a whole but lacks the power to dictate how states are to run their own sports-betting industries.