Texas Representative Vouches For Coastal Casinos

Texas State Representative Joe Deshotel, filed a bill on December 7th that would subsidize the state’s windstorm and flooding insurances that were heavily underfunded for some time now. The method? Building casinos in the state’s coastal regions.

Deshotel has made a tax proposition concerning licensed casinos and, should it be ed into a legislation, the Texas Lottery Commission – placed as state regulator – will be granted authority to hand out six licenses to new operators in as many counties.

The tax revenue would be sent directly to Texas Insurance Agency.

All About the Revenue

The bill looks to enforce the 18% gaming revenue tax…

…a portion of which would go straight to the insurance Agency in order for additional capital covering deficit to be invested into improving the insurance and rebuilding programs for areas of the state that are frequently hit by windstorms and floods.

Comments Rep. Deshotel: “Just like the lottery, where a portion of funds go to public education, this is a need that’s underfunded. If the lottery helps education, we can help with the problem of windstorm, which is disproportionately paid for by the coastal counties.”

He went on adding that he anticipates opposition to his ideas in the next session – not unfounded at all, since Governor Greg Abbott already blocked the proposal to raise the commercial and residential rates by 10%, while of the legislature – from both the Democratic and Republican camps – have rejected the idea of legalized casinos for years now, citing different reasons for it.

Come Hell or High Water

Despite windstorms and flooding being the main reasons behind it, Deshotel is of the opinion that legalization of commercial casinos should take place regardless of whether they will be dedicated to mending that particular issue.

He sees something else as a major problem for Texas:

“Every bordering state to Texas has legalized gambling. We lose millions of dollars in potential tax revenue to those areas. We have the consequences of gambling, but none of the positives.”

Deshotel has fought this battle before…

…In 2015, a bill similar to this one was filed in by him, but it did not get past the initial stages for lack of . This bill, however, has the altruistic and humanitarian aspect to it, largely stemming from the devastation inflicted by the Hurricane Harvey.

Earlier this year, Texas gubernatorial candidate, Andrew White, vowed to improve the state’s crumbling public school system by putting aside $9 million for the purpose. He suggested that Texas schools’ budget issues could be, at least partly, covered by money collected from gambling taxes.

Texas Legislative Session begins on January 8th, while March 8th is the deadline date for filing bills.

Source:

“Texas lawmaker proposes casinos to subsidize wind insurance”, apnews.com, December 16, 2018.