- Rep. Charlie Geren’s HJR 52 proposes a Nov. 2, 2027 statewide vote on authorizing casino gaming and sports wagering.
- Its text matches his 2025 HJR 137, which never advanced past House committee referral, apart from the election date.
- It would cap casino licenses at 10 facilities and the tax at 15 percent, and leave sports wagering locations to lawmakers.
- Passage requires two-thirds of each chamber, 100 House members and 21 senators, and Republicans hold 19 Senate seats.
AUSTIN, Texas – Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, brought back his 2025 casino and sports wagering amendment on Nov. 9, the first day of prefiling for the 2027 session, as HJR 52, with the 2025 terms intact and the election moved to Nov. 2, 2027. Texas Legislature Online lists the resolution as filed in the House, with no committee referral yet.
Texas does not authorize sports wagering today, so legal Texas sports betting would take two steps under the resolution: voter approval of the amendment, then a general law setting the rules. The ballot question would ask voters to let the Legislature authorize and regulate casino gaming and sports wagering “at a limited number of locations in this state.”
Same Text As 2025
A comparison of the introduced versions on Texas Legislature Online shows HJR 52 repeats HJR 137 word for word apart from the election date, which moves from Nov. 3, 2025 to Nov. 2, 2027. The House read HJR 137 a first time and referred it to the State Affairs Committee on March 19, 2025, and the site records no hearing or vote after that.
A sports-only amendment, HJR 134 by Rep. Sam Harless, R-Spring, drew the same referral and the same silence. Both filings were covered in Texas sports betting bills filed that February.
What The Text Sets
The text fixes ceilings and leaves the rest to lawmakers. The enabling law would have to hold casino licenses and locations to “no more than 10 licensed facilities in this state,” the resolution says, each with an initial term “of at least 40 years,” and because the cap would sit in the constitution, only another amendment could raise it.
A tax on casino and sports wagering revenue could run “not to exceed 15 percent,” and the resolution bars any added state or local tax or fee on that revenue, other than levies that apply to businesses generally. That sets the most the state can take and leaves cities and counties unable to add their own.
Casino gaming would be limited to onsite play at a licensed operator’s physical premises, which would keep online casino games out. For sports wagering, the text tells the Legislature to decide where it may be conducted and does not use the words online, mobile or retail. Whether bettors could wager by phone, in person or both would fall to the enabling law that sets up legal sports betting in the state.
A separate requirement directs the law to set a process for the state to negotiate in good faith, and sign in a timely manner, a Tribal-State gaming compact with “any of the three existing federally recognized Indian tribes with Indian lands in this state,” as the text puts it. The compact would cover Class III gaming on a tribe’s existing lands under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, at the tribe’s request.
The Vote Math
Voters see a joint resolution only after two-thirds of each chamber approves it, which means 100 of the Texas House’s 150 members and 21 of the Texas Senate’s 31. Democrats won control of the House on Nov. 3, and the Texas Tribune’s post-election count projected them at 83 seats, which would leave HJR 52 at least 17 Republican votes short even if every Democrat voted yes. Republicans kept a 19-12 majority in the Senate, per the Tribune, so the resolution would need at least nine Republican senators.
Lt. Gov.-elect Vikki Goodwin, the Democrat who unseated Republican Dan Patrick on Nov. 3, will preside over that chamber. Lawmakers return to Austin on Jan. 12, 2027, and can file bills through March 12.
