The Legal Status of Betting On College Sports in the United States

In May of 2018, New Jersey won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that enabled the states to make their own decisions on the legal status of sports betting. Since that time, some states have chosen to legalize sports betting, while other states have held out in this regard. Naturally, interested individuals are bound to be curious about the status of sports betting in their own state.

The Legal Status of Betting On College Sports in Texas

For instance, the state of Texas is one of the states in which betting on college sports as well as other sports remain illegal. However, it remains to be seen whether this will remain the case or not.

In short, there is a very small number of states in which no politician is even pushing for the legalization of sports betting. However, Texas isn’t one of those. Instead, the state has seen bills for the legalization of sports betting introduced, which suggests that there is indeed interest in the matter.

Right now, there are no legal ways to bet on sports in Texas. There are a number of websites and apps that say they can accept bets from anywhere in the United States. Since there are no federally-regulated sports betting apps it’s easy to identify these websites as offshore unregulated operators. However, it has yet to make any headway and sports betting is currently not available inside Texas. The only way for Texas bettors to enjoy sports betting is through sports betting websites. The horse racing and gambling landscape in Texas has been a complicated one over the years but the industry seems to have turned a corner. While the state is still establishing whether or not to allow historical racing machines, horse racing fans can watch and wager on live horse races throughout the country at one of the state’s seven horse or dog tracks. For instance, the state of Texas is one of the states in which betting on college sports as well as other sports remain illegal. However, it remains to be seen whether this will remain the case or not. The Tennessee state legislature approved a sports betting bill in the spring of 2019 that will only allow betting online and on mobile apps. The state expects to launch its gambling operations no.

So far, those bills haven’t managed to legalize sports betting in Texas. Having said that, there are a lot of people who are expecting that this will be no more than a matter of time. To an extent, this is because Texas is home to a number of major sports franchises, meaning that there is enormous local interest in sports and thus enormous interest in sports-related matters. However, it should also be remembered that the legal status of sports betting isn’t just an issue in the state but also an issue throughout the rest of the United States as well. Due to this, there are a lot of people who believe that as more and more jurisdictions legalize sport betting to some extent, there will be more and more pressure on Texas to follow suit. Something that they believe is bound to bring about changes at some point in the times still to come.

In the meantime, any kind of gambling is illegal in the state of Texas, with gambling defined as any bet based on the idea of either winning or losing something based on pure chance. With that said, it is interesting to note that there are three casinos that operate either within or very close to Texas’s boundaries. These casinos have been established on Native American land, meaning that they are capable of operating because they do not fall under Texas’s jurisdiction.

Further Considerations

Sports betting is a developing matter. This means that interested individuals might want to keep a watchful eye on it, particularly if they live in a place where it remains the subject of much contention. As for strategies, having more knowledge of the relevant teams is more helpful than having less knowledge when it comes to making predictions about their performance. However, no one can know everything about every team out there, meaning that it might be best for them to focus on one collegiate team in one collegiate sport. Of course, even being this focused can’t guarantee winning results, which is why interested individuals should limit the size of their bets so as to limit the size of their potential losses.

Sports Betting Online Texas

Texans love their sports, so it only makes sense that Texashas joined more than half the country in introducing sports betting legislation.

Rep. Eddie Lucio III filed H 1275 to authorize sports betting operations, including mobile and online wagering, in the state.

The bill would require a referendum amending the state constitution to be approved by voters in November. To that end, Lucio also introduced House Joint Resolution 61 seeking to amend the constitution so that “the legislature by law may authorize and regulate the placing of wagers on professional and collegiate sports.”

The resolution must be adopted by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate in order to be placed on the ballot.

As one of the most sports-centric states in the country, Texas would be the second-largest sports betting market in the US, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming forecasts.

Details of the Texas sports betting bill

Is It Legal To Bet On Sports Online In Texas

Lucio introduced comprehensive legislation with the following provisions:

• Five total permits available, with two skins allowed per permit.
• An allowance for mobile and online wagering.
• Operators would be required to collect a 6.25 percent tax on handle, or total amount wagered. This tax would make it almost impossible to operate sports betting in the state, as it could very well outpace revenue generated.
• Addressing a concern of the Wire Act, the bill addresses the intermediate routing of electronic data, specifying that sports betting transmissions must initiate and be received within the state.

Probably no sports betting in Texas soon

Any expansion of gambling has generated intense opposition in the Republican-controlled legislature for years. Casino and Texas fantasy sports bills have a long history of going nowhere. State law does allow for bingo, lottery and horse betting. There have also been bills in the past, even before the fall of the sports betting ban.

This bill is being sponsored by a Democrat, which is reason enough that it won’t pass. Gov. Greg Abbott, another Republican, also is on record opposing any expansion of legal gambling in Texas.

How To Bet Online Sports

In 2015, Abbott asked state lottery officials to stop collecting information about potential sports betting games, saying that “state laws on gaming are to be viewed strictly as prohibitive to any expansion of gambling.”

How Can I Bet Online

In other words, the Dallas Mavericks have a better chance of trading for Kristaps Porzingis than this bill has of … wait, bad example. The Houston Texans will win their first Super Bowl before a sports betting bill sponsored by a Democrat passes in Texas.

How To Bet On Sports Online In Texas

Only New Mexico offers sports betting of Texas’ neighboring states.