Texas Gambling Laws

Texas represents one of the largest untapped sports betting markets in the United States. Despite repeated efforts by state lawmakers to introduce new gambling laws in TX to legalize and regulate domestic sportsbooks, none of these proposals have been enacted. As a result, sports betting remains prohibited under state law.

Below, we examine the current legal status of in-person and online sports betting in Texas, current TX gambling laws, and the restrictions that continue to prevent regulated sports wagering from launching in the Lone Star State.

Current Gambling Laws

Penal Code § 47.01 — Definitions. This is the foundation. A “bet” is an agreement to win or lose something of value wholly or partly by chance. It also defines “bookmaking” to include receiving/recording/forwarding more than five bets in 24 hours, bets totaling more than $1,000 in 24 hours, or a scheme involving three or more people receiving, recording, or forwarding bets.
Penal Code § 47.02 — Gambling. This is the principal criminal prohibition affecting an individual who places an unlawful sports wager. Chapter 47 criminalizes gambling subject to statutory defenses and exceptions.
Penal Code § 47.03 — Gambling Promotion. This provision targets people who operate, promote, facilitate, or profit from unlawful gambling, making it particularly relevant to bookmakers and sportsbook-type operations. Chapter 47 separately distinguishes gambling promotion from merely placing a wager.
Penal Code § 47.04 — Keeping a Gambling Place. Operating or knowingly permitting property to be used as a gambling place can constitute a separate offense. Because §47.01 defines a gambling place to include property used for making/settling bets or bookmaking, this can apply to physical sportsbook operations.
Penal Code § 47.05 — Communicating Gambling Information. TX also regulates transmission of gambling information intended to further gambling, making this section relevant to bookmaking and betting operations rather than merely the underlying wager.
Penal Code §§ 47.06–47.07 — Gambling devices and equipment. These provisions prohibit certain possession or transfer of gambling devices and gambling paraphernalia when the statutory requirements are satisfied. They can matter to businesses facilitating illegal wagering.
TX Constitution, Article III, §47 — Constitutional gambling restrictions. Texas’s constitution requires the Legislature to prohibit lotteries and gift enterprises except for specifically authorized forms of gambling. This constitutional framework is a major reason sports betting cannot simply be licensed administratively in the state. A 2025 proposal, SJR 82, would have authorized the Legislature to regulate casino gaming and sports wagering, illustrating the constitutional route proposed for legalization.
Government Code §466.024 — Sports-based Texas Lottery games prohibited. The TX Lottery itself cannot establish a lottery game in which the winner is selected based on the outcome of a sports event. The statute expressly defines sports events to include football, basketball, baseball and similar games, as well as certain horse/dog races.
Occupations Code §2027.102 — Horse and greyhound wagering. There is an important exception to the general picture: pari-mutuel wagering on authorized horse and greyhound racing is separately regulated. A person cannot wager on a horse or greyhound race in TX except as authorized by the racing statutes, and an entity other than a racetrack association generally cannot accept such a wager from a TX resident who is physically in the state.
Occupations Code §2027.101 — Minors and race wagering. The state requires rules prohibiting minors from wagering and restricting unaccompanied children from racetrack viewing areas.
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) – The state does not have a clean statutory authorization comparable to states that expressly license DFS. In Attorney General Opinion KP-0057, the AG concluded that paid daily fantasy sports constitute illegal gambling under Penal Code §47.02, while certain traditional fantasy leagues can qualify for the statutory defense when conducted privately, with no one receiving an economic benefit other than personal winnings, and participants facing equal risks of winning and losing. An AG opinion is important legal guidance, but it is not itself a statute or court judgment.

Defunct Sports Betting Laws As Of August, 2026

The most relevant recent Texas proposals are from the 2025 (89th) Legislature, but there’s an important distinction: some proposals would have broadly authorized sports wagering, while others tied it to physical casino locations. None became law.

HJR 137 (Rep. Charlie Geren, 2025) is probably the closest match to what you mean by in-person sports betting. It proposed amending the TX Constitution to allow the Legislature to authorize casino gaming and sports wagering, determine where sports wagering could occur, license operators, and tax sports-wagering revenue at no more than 15%. It also contemplated up to 10 licensed casino facilities.

What happened: It was filed February 12, 2025, read and referred to the House State Affairs Committee on March 19, and never advanced out of committee. It therefore never reached voters.

SJR 82 (Sen. Nathan Johnson, 2025) was a similar Senate proposal. It would have authorized casino gaming and sports wagering, created a state regulatory commission, required operator licenses, allowed the commission to determine where sports wagering could be conducted, and capped the tax at 15%. Casino gaming itself was expressly restricted to licensed physical casino premises, although the sports-wagering provision was broader and wasn’t expressly limited to in-person betting.

What happened: It was referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee on March 25, 2025 and went no further.

SJR 16 (Sen. Carol Alvarado, 2025) was the larger destination-resort/casino proposal. It would have amended the Constitution to authorize destination-resort casinos, sports wagering and a new Texas Gaming Commission. Because the proposal centered on physical destination resorts, it’s particularly relevant if you’re researching the intersection between retail sportsbooks and casinos.

What happened: It did not obtain the legislative approval necessary to put the constitutional amendment before voters in November 2025. Thus, it did not legalize retail sportsbooks.

HJR 134 / SJR 65 (2025) were narrower sports-betting constitutional amendments. They would have allowed TX to authorize sports wagering conducted by eligible Texas professional sports teams, qualifying professional golf organizations, Class 1 racetracks, or their designees. The language did not itself limit wagering to in-person betting, so these are better characterized as general sports-wagering proposals than retail-only bills.

What happened: HJR 134 was referred to House State Affairs on March 19 and remained there; it never reached the House floor or voters.

HJR 102 — The Sportsbook Amendment That Passed The House

Rep. Jeff Leach introduced HJR 102. Because Article III, §47 of the Texas Constitution restricts gambling, lawmakers pursued a constitutional amendment rather than simply passing a sportsbook licensing statute.

As ultimately approved by the House, HJR 102 would have given the Legislature authority to legalize and regulate wagering on sporting events. But it limited who could conduct sports wagering to certain entities:

Texas professional sports teams
qualifying organizations that held annual professional golf tournaments in the state
Class 1 horse racetracks operating as of January 1, 2023

The House version also required at least 98% of net state tax revenue from sports wagering to be dedicated to property-tax relief.

Had both chambers approved HJR 102 by the required two-thirds vote, the constitutional amendment would have gone before Texas voters on November 7, 2023.

HB 1942 — The Actual Sports Betting System

HB 1942, also authored by Leach, was the enabling legislation. This is where an important clarification to my previous answer is needed:

HB 1942 was fundamentally an online/mobile sports-betting proposal—not a conventional retail sportsbook bill.

The official House analysis describes it as establishing an “interactive sports wagering” program conducted through the Internet, mobile devices or other telecommunications services.

It would have covered a broad range of bets, including single-game bets, parlays, over/unders, moneylines, pools, exchange wagering, live/in-play betting, props and straight wagers. Fantasy contests and pari-mutuel horse/greyhound wagering were excluded from this framework.

Online Sports Betting Options – Offshore

Texas law does not specifically address or expressly prohibit residents from accessing offshore sportsbooks located and licensed outside the United States. However, these sites are not regulated by TX authorities, making it important for players to carefully vet an operator before depositing or wagering real money.

Offshore sportsbooks have accepted Texas bettors for well over a decade, providing an alternative while the state continues to prohibit domestic retail and mobile sports wagering. These sites offer betting markets covering professional and college teams across the state, allowing residents to bet on the Cowboys, the Longhorns, Houston Texans, the TX Rangers, and other popular teams.

Because the state does not license or oversee these operators, bettors should pay particular attention to a sportsbook’s licensing jurisdiction, operating history, security practices, payout reputation, and published terms before creating an account.

Will Domestic Sports Betting Ever Pass In TX?

The interest is certainly there, but the hurdles to legalizing domestic sports betting in Texas remain substantial. Unlike states where lawmakers can authorize sportsbooks through a standard bill, TX would first need to change its constitution before a regulated sports betting market could move forward.

The biggest obstacle is Article III, Section 47 of the state constitution, which generally prohibits lotteries and other forms of gambling unless specifically authorized. As a result, lawmakers seeking to legalize sports wagering have pursued a constitutional amendment rather than relying solely on ordinary legislation.

The process would generally require:

A constitutional amendment must be proposed. A lawmaker would introduce a House or Senate joint resolution allowing the state to authorize and regulate sports wagering.
Two-thirds of both legislative chambers must approve it. A proposed constitutional amendment needs the support of at least two-thirds of all elected members of the House and two-thirds of the Senate before it can reach voters.
Voters must approve the amendment. If lawmakers clear that unusually high threshold, the proposal goes onto a statewide ballot. A majority of voters would then need to approve the amendment.
Lawmakers must establish the sports betting framework. The constitutional amendment can give the Legislature authority to legalize wagering, but separate enabling legislation is generally needed to establish details such as eligible operators, licensing, taxes, regulatory oversight and wagering rules. The 2023 effort, for example, paired HJR 102 with enabling legislation HB 1942.

Texas has already shown that getting through the Legislature is the difficult part. In 2023, HJR 102 passed the Texas House, demonstrating that a sports betting amendment can attract substantial bipartisan support, but it did not advance in the Senate.

FAQS

Is sports betting legal in Texas?

No. Texas currently does not have a legal, state-regulated market for betting on professional or college sports. Penal Code §47.02 generally prohibits making a bet on the result of a game or contest or on the performance of a participant.

However, you can bet online with offshore sportsbooks that accept players from TX. Our TexasSportsBetting.net football betting guide details how you can bet on local teams and other sporting events held in the Lone Star State.

Can I use DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, or another sportsbook in Texas?

Not for their real-money sportsbook products while physically located in Texas. The state has not licensed commercial online sportsbooks. Sportsbook operators that operate legally in other states therefore cannot offer their regulated Texas sportsbook product without a change in Texas law.

This is different from other products those companies may offer, such as certain fantasy or free-to-play products.

Are offshore sports betting websites legal in Texas?

Current laws do not prohibit offshore sportsbooks but that doesn’t necessarily make them legal. Offshore gambling operators legally accept TX players in their country of origin but operate in a grey area as there are no federal or state laws that make them legal or illegal.

Can I legally bet on horse races in Texas?

Yes, but only through the state’s specifically authorized pari-mutuel wagering system.

Local gambling law permits regulated wagering on horse and greyhound racing under the Texas Racing Act. Wagering generally must take place within an authorized racetrack enclosure, and state law specifically restricts accepting racing wagers in person, by telephone, or over the Internet unless authorized by the Racing Act.

That exception does not mean a racetrack can currently operate a conventional sportsbook taking bets on NFL, NBA or college games.

Has TX tried to legalize sports betting?

Yes, multiple times.

The most significant recent effort occurred in 2023, when HJR 102 and HB 1942 advanced a proposed constitutional amendment and regulatory framework for sports wagering.

Another effort came during the 2025 Legislature. For example, SJR 65 and identical HJR 134 proposed allowing the Legislature to authorize sports wagering conducted by qualifying professional sports teams, certain professional golf organizations, Class 1 racetracks, or their designees.

Neither 2025 resolution advanced out of its respective State Affairs committee.

Why hasn’t Texas legalized sports betting yet?

A major obstacle is the state constitution.

Article III, §47 directs the Legislature to prohibit lotteries and gift enterprises except for specifically authorized categories such as the state lottery and certain charitable gaming.

Recent sports-betting proposals have therefore pursued a constitutional amendment. That requires approval by two-thirds of each chamber of the Texas Legislature, followed by approval from Texas voters. The 2025 SJR 65 proposal, for example, would have expressly added constitutional authority for the Legislature to authorize and regulate sports wagering.

When could sports betting become legal in Texas?

There is no currently enacted date for legalization.

The 2025 sports-betting amendment proposals did not pass. SJR 65’s last action was referral to Senate State Affairs on March 10, 2025, while HJR 134’s last action was referral to House State Affairs on March 19, 2025.

Consequently, their proposed November 4, 2025 constitutional amendment vote never occurred.

Unless lawmakers pursue legalization through another legislative route, the 2027 regular legislative session represents the next major opportunity for Texas lawmakers to revisit the issue.