Texas panel mulls gambling

April Castro

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 | 9:22 a.m.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The expansion of gambling in Texas could be the downfall of society or the goose that laid the golden egg, depending on whom you talked to at the state Capitol on Tuesday.

Limited legalization of video slot machines has become one of the most contentious issues before the state Legislature this session, as lawmakers look for ways to generate enough money to slash property taxes and give public schools more money.

A handful of proposals have been made that would legalize state-taxed video gambling at horse and dog racing tracks and Indian reservations. One of the more extreme proposals would allow Las Vegas-style casinos in any county that voted to approve the measure.

While the plans differ, legislators expect the provision to generate about $1 billion a year.

A public hearing on the issue before the House tax-writing Ways and Means Committee drew both sides of the issue to Austin on Tuesday to share their viewpoints.

Representatives for the Alabama-Coushatta and the Tiguas pleaded with the panel, asserting that reopening their casinos could be a much-needed boon for the economy on their reservations.

Casinos run by the Tiguas in El Paso and the Alabama-Coushattas in Livingston were shut down in 2002 after a long legal battle. Economic conditions improved significantly while the casinos were open, but the unemployment and poverty rates have skyrocketed since they were shuttered.

"We hope you will give us an opportunity to prove that this is a win-win situation," said Arturo Sinclair, governor of the El Paso tribe. Sinclair said that during the seven years the casino was open, 1,000 people were employed and revenue was generated for the reservation to build affordable housing and establish daycare for tribe members.

But, religious activists were quick to espouse the social ills of video slot machines -- a higher propensity for addiction and a higher cost to those least able to afford it, for instance.

"We believe it would be wrong -- both from a fiscal and a moral point of view -- to adopt a tax scheme that will be dependent on the lowest income-earners in the state to fund our most critical state programs," said Suzii Paynter, director of public policy for the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

"Is it fiscally responsible to replace property tax income for public education with a funding source that is dependent on the lowest income and lowest education levels in the state?"

Timothy Kelly, who served as executive director of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, established under President Clinton, recommended a moratorium on any expansion of gambling in the country.

"Gambling expansion is always presented as a windfall for hungry state coffers," Kelly said. "But as the Gambling Commission discovered, gambling expansion always comes with a heavy price -- not the least of which is the broken lives and broken families of those who fall prey to addiction."

A video gambling provision is expected to be part of a sweeping school finance overhaul. The ways and means committee is working to craft a tax plan that will fund the K-12 education proposals, also being considered this week.