Casino Supporters Make Renewed Push In Texas

AUSTIN - Flashy billboards and television ads beckon Texans to casinos in Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Buses and cars full of eager gamblers zip over to those states to plop down cash playing blackjack, roulette and slots.

It's a pot of money Texas ought to have a piece of, gambling proponents say, to help pay for education and other important services.

But time and again anti-gambling forces have blocked casinos or any semblance of them in the conservative Lone Star State. In some circles the idea of casino wagering is akin to a state income tax -- a Texas taboo.

Battle lines already are being drawn in the 2007 Legislature as gambling interests make a renewed push for casinos. The opposition is as ardent as ever and this time has the advantage of Texas' $14.3 billion budget surplus, making it tough to argue for creating a new revenue source, especially one so controversial.

"I think it is a difficult proposition," Republican Gov. Rick Perry said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. In 2004, he suggested legalizing video slot machines at race tracks to help pay for public schools, only to see his proposal shot down by social conservatives in the Legislature.

"I'm not telling you it's not possible, by any sense of the imagination," Perry said. "And I have had enough conversations with enough proponents to know that they're going to continue to work towards it."

The Texas Gaming Association, made up of prominent gambling industry figures, argues that there's already gambling in Texas in the form of the state lottery and race tracks and that most Texans live within an hour and a half of a neighboring state or country, meaning casinos are within easy re. ach.

"Texans are already doing it. It's already happening. It's already here," said Chris Shields, the gaming association's lobbyist.

When you hear that most vehicles in the parking lots of neighboring states' casinos display Texas license plates, that's no joke, Shields said, adding, "Texans are already paying for the public schools and the highways in Louisiana."

Near the state's borders, and even in the heart of Texas, out-of-state casinos attempt to attract Texas gamblers. Depending on the region, billboards hype the waterfront casinos in Lake Charles, La., the Inn of the Mountain Gods resort and casino near Ruidoso, N.M., or the massive WinStar Casinos just across the Oklahoma line along Interstate 35.

In Central Texas, a glitzy television ad urges viewers to visit the Grand Casino Coushatta in Kinder, La.

Baptists and certain Texas House members have fought any expansion of gambling in Texas in past legislative sessions. The opponents contend that casinos would lead to gambling addiction and increased crime, and they say gambling money isn't a stable source of state revenue.

Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, an Irving Republican, cited statistics from Louisiana's state budget that she said show casino gambling delivered far less money than promised, even before the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

"There's just not that money to be made there. It's not there," she said.

That was her argument in 2004 when she and other conservative lawmakers banded together and purged Perry's proposal for race track video slot machines from a school funding plan. Harper-Brown said those legislators would form an anti-gambling bloc again.

Suzii Paynter, director of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said in addition to creating societal problems, casinos would divert Texans' money from existing tourist attractions like sports teams, theme parks and the San Antonio River Walk.

Gambling proponents say expanding gambling the right way by creating destination resort casinos will provide thousands of jobs and be a huge economic boon. The Texas Gaming Association is proposing dedicating a certain percentage of casino gambling revenues for college scholarships, a plan modeled after similar ones in other states.

Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston is proposing licensing up to 12 casinos across the state, mostly in major cities and on tourist islands along the coast. Each casino would be the anchor for a "destination attraction development project."

Voters would have to sign off on the plan by approving a state constitutional amendment, and local voters would have to agree before a casino could open in their cities.

Ellis' bill is the closest one at this point to what the gaming association wants.

Another proposed constitutional amendment by Democratic Rep. Norma Chavez of El Paso would allow the Tigua Indian tribe to reopen its Speaking Rock Casino.

The gaming association also proposes allowing casinos on the state's recognized Indian reservations and allowing video slot machines at horse and dog tracks, something the tracks have wanted for years to help boost profits.

Ellis, using statistics from economist Ray Perryman, said casino gambling in Texas would create 250,000 jobs and produce $2.1 billion in tax money for the state and $729.7 million for local governments each year once they open.

Shields said updated economic estimates his association will soon outline show casino gambling could inject $45 billion annually into the Texas economy and another $3 billion in tax revenue each year.

Of course, there would be money to be made by casino owners.

Plenty of money flows regularly from gambling advocates to state political candidates -- ranging from rank-and-file state legislators to gubernatorial contenders.

Perry's campaign finance report filed this past week and examined by the AP showed a $10,000 contribution from Tilman Fertitta of Houston, chairman and chief executive of Landry's Restaurants Inc., which owns Golden Nugget casinos in Nevada.

Other notable donations to Perry were $5,000 from the Landry's Restaurant political committee; $35,000 from Big City Capital LLC, which has pressed for gambling; and $1,000 from the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas Fund.

The Kickapoo tribe is the only one of Texas' three recognized tribes running a gambling establishment right now with its limited casino near Eagle Pass.

Perry said he doesn't like using gambling money to fund government. But he argues that there's casino-style gambling all over Texas in the form of unregulated eight-liner machines -- devices similar to slot machines that sometimes pay prohibited cash prizes.

Any casino legislation may be more palatable to lawmakers if it provides for cracking down on eight-liners, he said, as the Texas Gaming Association is proposing.

"They're totally unregulated, totally unlicensed and huge amounts of money," Perry said. "You're fooling yourself if you think there's not substantial gambling going on in the state of Texas."