No Poker at Tracks in Texas

May 26, 2009

A bill that would have allowed poker playing at racetracks in Texas has been killed by the legislature. The bill had already been trimmed substantially, in order to try and get more legislators on board, but Texas State Rep. Jose Menendez chose to postpone the legislation which means that it will not go through.

Menendez postponed it until a day after this current session ended, ensuring that the poker bill would not pass. The bill would have allowed poker playing in the form of both games and tournaments at tracks, under the supervision of the Texas Lottery Commission. The original version of the poker bill would have also allowed it at bars and restaurants, but the new version removed that provision. It was removed to make it more likely to pass in the state.

Governor Rick Perry has already made it very clear that he is not going to support any kind of expanded gambling, so when the bill came up on the House calendar, Menendez made sure that it did not really come up. He felt that this was the best way of handling the situation; since there was no way that the poker bill would pass. He said that he had tried on three other attempts to get poker legalized in the state – but to no avail. He said that he knew he did not have the 100 votes in the Senate to pass it.

With a state budget deficit that has gotten larger and larger each year, many thought that they would see poker legalized this year. They felt that legislators had to see that they were not going to be able to make up the shortfall any other way than to bring in poker playing, but it would seem that this is not the case. The state’s government remains very anti gambling – whether for poker or slot machines.