Why Did the Texas Poker Bill Die in 2009?
A Texas Poker Bill introduced to the state legislature this year has officially been killed-for now. Although not exactly voted down (or voted on at all), it was allowed to die through a bureaucratic loophole. House Bill 222, aka “The Texas Poker Bill”, proposed allowing poker games to be legally held at racetracks. The poker games and tournaments would be conducted under the supervision of the Texas Lottery Commission. The version of the Texas Poker Bill that made its way to the Texas legislature was significantly scaled down for an earlier version of the bill that was much broader is scope.
This new bill proposed, was going to allow poker games to be held at racetracks state wide. The House bill 222 called by most the “The Texas Poker Bill” was going to be closely monitored by the Texas Lottery Commission.
The original version of this bill allowed poker games at local bars and restaurants. The original bill was argued, some saying that it would protect player’s homes from thieves robbing an in-game session, or police raids as well. But after reviewing the bill extensively things had to be toned down a bit. This most recent bill that has been brought before the Texas legislature has been scaled down pretty significantly.
The hope of scaling back this bill over time was to significantly reduce the number of locations where poker tournaments were conducted, so the bills chance of approval would increase. The scale back was to directly removing poker games from being held in bars and restaurants leaving only racetracks for gaming to be held at. By poker being able to be held in bars and restaurants, it would increase the states revenue rather dramatically which is why the bill was contested.
The bill was contested because the state loses millions of dollars every year due to Texas residents crossing the border to gamble in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. With that in mind the state of Texas is facing a very large budget deficit, and the extra taxed revenue would be huge for the state. Initially, supporters thought the Texas Poker Bill had a good chance at passing but couldn’t have been more wrong.
You see Texas State Governor Rick Perry had already made it abundantly clear that if the bill received the 100 votes need to pass; he was going to veto it. It wouldn’t have mattered though as the bill just seemed destined to fail. Just before the bill was up for vote, the federal government relieved the state of its overwhelming deficit leaving no real urgency for gambling tax revenue.
There was another option. Jose Menendez a Texas State Representative and strong supporter of the bill came up with a possible solution. Menendez proposed a discussion, and vote re-introduce the bill on June 2nd 2009, ironically one day after the new legislation is set. He argued that because the bill had not been voted on that it was eligible to be re-submitted to the legislature a second time.
When it seemed as if there would be new life in this bill, and that it may get done this year it was then everyone realized no matter what they were going to have to wait. You see the legislation only meets every two years, and the earliest it will meet again will late 2010, but even voted on and passed wouldn’t be until early to mid 2011. As of right now Texas will be waiting until then to see the bill again.
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