Just A Before the Tipoff/Kickoff Question

[WildArkieBoy]

I fully expect this thread to be removed or placed in the forum dungeon, but it's still 2 hrs and 15 minutes b4 kickoff and I've been mulling something over.

I've read that the new Mavs ownership has an interest beyond NBA ownership, something about casino gambling.

I've also seen Kenny and, I think, Charles of the TNT Network mentioning parlays, betting, etc.

Now, I have no moral view about gambling.  I spent some time in Vegas recently but lacked the disposable income to place a bet.

Anyway, my question is:  How realistic is the new ownership's hope and desire that the puritanical state of Texas would somehow approve gaming and/or betting?

[KillerLeft]

I fully expect this thread to be removed or placed in the forum dungeon, but it's still 2 hrs and 15 minutes b4 kickoff and I've been mulling something over.

I've read that the new Mavs ownership has an interest beyond NBA ownership, something about casino gambling.

I've also seen Kenny and, I think, Charles of the TNT Network mentioning parlays, betting, etc.

Now, I have no moral view about gambling.  I spent some time in Vegas recently but lacked the disposable income to place a bet.

Anyway, my question is:  How realistic is the new ownership's hope and desire that the puritanical state of Texas would somehow approve gaming and/or betting?

I think it’s almost a certainty. My career is juxtaposed with education, so I have a pretty good understanding of what legalized gambling has done to education in neighboring states, When I see the same persuasive “it will help fund education” talking points seeping across the border into Texas, which has maybe the last actually well funded education system in the United States, I weep for the future.

However, we are now living in a world where DraftKings sponsors 70% of the sports content out there. Eventually, competing gambling businesses will have their logos on teams’ jerseys. Eventually, the baseball Hall of Fame, from which Pete rose is excluded, will be sponsored by DraftKings. The world is connected now, in a way that it just wasn’t 50 years ago so what people are exposed to when they are young determines in much larger part what their beliefs and values are as they get older than what their parents teach them, at lest relative to bygone eras. I’m not making a political statement with that, it’s just something I believe is true.

Gambling is a way for people to make money (not the gamblers, the businesses) and they will eventually make sure that it is legal EVERYWHERE. Given that the true spirit of Texas is entrepreneurial, even more than religious, I don’t even expect that we will be the last state to legalize it.

[ballsrchr]

I also agree that it is almost a certainty that Texas will approve gaming and/or betting. Money talks. No money will seep down to us, but it is what it is. Certain state and private coffers will fill up!

[WildArkieBoy]

I think it’s almost a certainty. My career is juxtaposed with education, so I have a pretty good understanding of what legalized gambling has done to education in neighboring states, When I see the same persuasive “it will help fund education” talking points seeping across the border into Texas, which has maybe the last actually well funded education system in the United States, I weep for the future.

However, we are now living in a world where DraftKings sponsors 70% of the sports content out there. Eventually, competing gambling businesses will have their logos on teams’ jerseys. Eventually, the baseball, Hall of Fame, from which Pete rose is excluded, will be sponsored by DraftKings. The world is connected now, in a way that it just wasn’t 50 years ago, so what people are exposed to when they are young determines in much larger part what their beliefs and values are as they get older than what their parents teach them, at lest relative to bygone eras. I’m not making a political statement with that, it’s just something I believe is true.

Gambling is a way for people to make money (not the gamblers, the businesses) and they will eventually make sure that it is legal EVERYWHERE. Given that the true spirit of Texas is entrepreneurial, even more than religious, I don’t even expect that we will be the last state to legalize it.

Yes, the unfulfilled promise to fund education. . . understood.   My city and county, the most impoverished in the U.S., receives the largest turnback from the State of Texas annually~over $550M for their school district.  Should gambling be legalized, this community (Brownsville, Cameron County) would fall head over heals.  Already, it takes 15 or more minutes to purchase a coke at a convenience store with all the lottery tickets being sold and/or redeemed.

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

Yes, the unfulfilled promise to fund education. . . understood.   My city and county, the most impoverished in the U.S., receives the largest turnback from the State of Texas annually~over $550M for their school district.  Should gambling be legalized, this community (Brownsville, Cameron County) would fall head over heels.  Already, it takes 15 or more minutes to purchase a coke at a convenience store with all the lottery tickets being sold and/or redeemed.

Just read a great NY Times article about Brownsville, Space X, Musk. Kinda wish it had been longer form. Some journalist should be writing a book about it in the vein of Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe (if they aren’t already)