Yet another casino bill in Texas

Texans may be voting this year on one more casino legislation. Proposed by the Senators John Carona (R-Dallas) and Rodney Ellis (D-Houston), it would give legal ground for the building of up to twelve casino resorts in Texas cities.

The selling point of this plan, is the included provision, which would dedicate $1 billion every year to a fund to pay eligible Texans to attend college or public university. The money would help about 250,000 students once the program is fully functional. The state would decide the criteria for qualification of the future students, but the dollar numbers would be able to cover on average every student with a SAT score above 1,000.

Economically, legal casino gambling would create over 400,000 new jobs and over $4 billion in state revenue. According to unofficial numbers, Texans spend close to $10 billion per year gambling in other states and online. This point , brought up by the opponents of the bill, is also one for the supports team, which claims that this bill would stop that gambling money from leaving the state borders.

The bill, according to the Texas Gaming Association, would create casinos in the coastal region which would bring some tourism in the state, but opponents claim that casinos are proven to thrive on the local gambling addicts and economy.

Voters in Texas would have the final word on the proposed casino gambling legislation, which passage many find doubtful.