Texas Sports Betting: Jerry Jones Sees a Path to the End Zone After the Turnover in Austin
The Cowboys' owner told his Friday radio audience he hopes the new political order in Austin delivers regulated sports gambling. The road still runs through the Texas Constitution — and a statewide vote of the people.
Jerry Jones has wanted legal sports betting in Texas for years. This week, the Dallas Cowboys' owner looked at the wreckage of the Republican order in Austin and saw his opening. Asked about his stance during his weekly Friday interview on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Jones said he hopes the political turnover results in regulated sports gambling, Casino.org reported Monday — arguing that betting is already happening in Texas illegally, and that legalizing it would protect consumers, generate tax revenue and protect the integrity of sports. "It has its best result when everybody's on the same page, and you're controlling and watching for any of the issues that are involved with gaming," Jones said. "It is a plus in my mind with the best place in the world for sports — Texas — for us to have sports betting."
The turnover he is counting on is real. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa will be Texas's first Latina governor and its first Democratic chief executive since Ann Richards; Lieutenant Governor-elect Vikki Goodwin unseated three-term incumbent Dan Patrick; James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race; and Democrats flipped seats across the Dallas suburbs and in border communities. Jones, 84, describes himself as apolitical — he says the Cowboys drive 99 percent of his political activity — though Casino.org notes his 2026 giving leaned heavily Republican, including $250,000 to Paxton and $500,000 to state Republican candidates. "When I have something that will help the Cowboys, then I'm all in, and I'll go all out," Jones said.
None of that shortens the legal road by a single step, and the story's last word belongs to Texas voters. The Texas Constitution currently bans sports gambling, so lawmakers in Austin cannot simply pass a regulatory bill: the Legislature would first need to pass legislation authorizing a statewide referendum, and only if a simple majority of Texans backs the measure would the Legislature be cleared to set the regulations. Bill filing for the 90th Legislature opened Monday morning, which makes this session the first realistic vehicle — and makes Jones's Friday comments the opening argument in a fight that will run through the winter in Austin and, if he gets his way, onto a statewide ballot.
