New Dallas-Fort Worth Committee on Texas Casino Proposals May Allay Fears
News that the North Texas Commission (NTC) will set up a committee to study proposed casino gambling in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex is getting praise from some experts who follow the controversial issue.
The NTC committee will look at the impact that one or two casinos could have on the DFW region and how they would impact economic development, the workforce, infrastructure, transportation, and public safety.
“It will provide a venue in which skeptics and critics of destination resort casino legislation can have their questions answered and concerns allayed, potentially reducing any extant opposition,” Mark P. Jones, a professor at Rice University, told Casino.org.
“And it will underscore to Republican state senators and representatives who are still on the fence regarding destination resort casinos the preference of many of their key stakeholders for destination resort casino legislation.”
Bills to pave the way for destination casinos in Texas have failed to get needed legislative approvals. Legislation is likely to be reintroduced in 2025 as a large number of Texas voters appear to back the proposals.
DFW Senate Republicans are Key
Jones said seven Republican state senators whose districts include portions of the DFW metroplex are “the most crucial to the destiny of casino resort legislation in 2025.”
If the legislation is eventually approved and Texas voters back a constitutional amendment, work by the new committee “will enable the DFW region to hit the ground running immediately,” Jones predicted.
