Texas lawmaker says gambling discussion should be out in open

AUSTIN, Texas -- The worse the budget situation in Texas, the more you’ll hear talk about whether the state should expand gambling. And so here we are.

Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, called this week for the creation of a House committee to study gambling, which he called the elephant in the room in light of the sizable budget deficit that lawmakers will confront next year.

Usually the speaker of the House appoints committees, but Speaker Joe Straus must tiptoe around the issue because his family is in the horse racing business, and any gambling discussion inevitably includes the question of whether video lottery terminals (similar to slot machines) or casinos should be at racetracks.

Gambling was not on the long list of issues that Straus told House members to study before next year’s session.

“It’s not being discussed publicly, it’s not being vetted publicly, and we have lots of people talking about it quietly,” said Dunnam, leader of the House Democratic Caucus. “Members are being polled by interest groups, and I just don’t think that’s the way to consider the issue.”

Some of the most successful lobbyists in the Capitol are engaged in the gambling debate. Mike Toomey, a former chief of staff to Gov. Rick Perry, is on track to make six figures this year lobbying for Sam Houston Race Park. Gordon Johnson lobbied for a dog track before he became a top Straus hand last year, and Johnson’s brother still represents the track.

The amount of money that interest groups are spending on political races also shows that this is a potent issue.

The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, which is seeking to acquire a racetrack in Grand Prairie, has given lawmakers $95,000 in the current election cycle, including $25,000 to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and $20,000 to Dunnam’s House Democratic Campaign Committee.

It remains to be seen whether those contributions will do any good. Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White oppose gambling expansions. And previous efforts to push gambling have faltered. Dunnam, for instance, said that if a vote were taken today, he would be against it.

One problem for gambling advocates is that the budget shortfall may be so large that there’s little casinos or slot machines could do in the short term to close it. That kind of question -- how much will this raise, anyway? -- is ...