Texas

Last verified September 27, 2026

By the Legal Sportsbooks US editorial team

Texas

Not legal

Legal since

Not legal

Minimum age

Not applicable (no legal sports betting); daily fantasy apps generally 18

Regulator

None

Licensed apps

None

State law

Tex. Penal Code ch. 47 (gambling)

Is sports betting legal in Texas?

No. Texas has no licensed sportsbooks, retail, online or tribal, and Section 47.02 of the Penal Code makes a bet on "the partial or final result of a game or contest" a Class C misdemeanor. Taking those bets is gambling promotion under Section 47.03, a Class A misdemeanor. Legal sports betting would first need an amendment to Article III, Section 47 of the Texas Constitution, and no sports betting resolution has cleared the Senate.

Why it isn't legal yet

Article III, Section 47 has directed the Legislature to prohibit lotteries and gift enterprises since 1876, and every exception to it was added by a statewide vote. A new exception needs a two-thirds vote in each chamber and then a majority of voters. The House reached that bar for sports betting once, in 2023. The Senate gave no sports betting resolution a hearing in the 2021, 2023 or 2025 sessions, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said in late March 2023 that no senator beyond those already signed on had told him they wanted to vote for one.

The Legislature meets in regular session only in odd-numbered years. The 90th Legislature convenes January 12, 2027, so no resolution can reach voters before that session acts.

The state's three tribes run gaming halls: the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe's Lucky Eagle in Eagle Pass, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo's Speaking Rock in El Paso and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe's Naskila near Livingston. Texas hasn't signed a gaming compact with any of them, and none takes sports bets.

The history of sports betting law in Texas

The constitution and its exceptions

Voters have amended Section 47 several times, and they haven't voted on sports betting. They approved local-option charitable bingo on November 4, 1980 (65.0%), charitable raffles on November 7, 1989 (62.5%) and a state lottery on November 5, 1991 (64.5%). Pari-mutuel racing came by statute, and voters approved the Texas Racing Commission, which licenses pari-mutuel tracks, in November 1987. Amendments in 2015, 2017 and 2021 dealt with charitable raffles at sports and rodeo events and with prize drawings to promote savings.

Chapter 47 of the Penal Code has a defense that home games and poker rooms rely on. Under Sections 47.02(b) and 47.04(b), gambling isn't prosecuted if it happens in a private place, no one takes an economic benefit beyond personal winnings, and the odds are the same for every player apart from skill or luck.

Sports betting bills, 2019 to 2025

Rep. Eddie Lucio III's HB 1275 and HJR 61, the 2019 sports betting bills, were filed February 1, 2019 and sent to the Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee on February 27. Neither got a hearing. In 2021 Rep. Dan Huberty's HJR 97 and HB 2070 were heard in House State Affairs on April 14 and left pending, and Sen. Juan Hinojosa's SJR 39 never left the Senate Business and Commerce Committee.

Rep. Jeff Leach's HJR 102 went furthest. It would have authorized wagering on sporting events and sent at least 98% of the net state tax revenue to property tax relief. On May 10, 2023 the House passed it to engrossment 97 to 44, short of two-thirds. After several members switched on May 11, it passed third reading 101 to 42, along with the enabling bill, HB 1942. The Senate received both on May 12 and didn't refer either one to a committee. Sen. Lois Kolkhorst's matching SJR 39 and SB 715 had sat in Senate State Affairs since March 1, 2023.

Five 2025 resolutions died in committee. HJR 134 by Rep. Sam Harless and its Senate twin, SJR 65 by Hinojosa, covered sports alone. HJR 137 by Rep. Charlie Geren and SJR 82 by Sen. Nathan Johnson paired casinos with sports wagering, and Sen. Carol Alvarado's SJR 16 proposed destination casinos. Each was referred to a State Affairs committee between February 3 and March 25, 2025, and the bill records don't show a hearing on any of them.

The 2025 and 2026 crackdowns

Sen. Bob Hall's SB 3070, signed June 20, 2025 and effective immediately, abolished the Texas Lottery Commission, moved the lottery to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on September 1, 2025, and made online or app lottery sales a Class A misdemeanor. On June 10, 2026 Attorney General Ken Paxton issued Opinion KP-0520, which says an amusement machine with both chance-based and skill-based modes is a gambling device "so long as chance plays any role" in whether the player wins something of value. In March 2026 Patrick gave the Senate State Affairs Committee an interim charge titled "Closing Gambling Loopholes," directing it to study prediction markets and "the exploitation of federal law to circumvent Texas gambling prohibitions."

Sports betting court cases in Texas

Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas (U.S. Supreme Court, No. 20-493, 2022)

The 1987 Restoration Act that restored federal trust status to the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe bans on their lands "all gaming activities which are prohibited by the laws of the State of Texas." In 1994 the Fifth Circuit held that the act, not the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, governs the Pueblo's gaming (Ysleta I, 36 F.3d 1325). Texas sued in 1999 and won a permanent injunction against the Pueblo's gaming (220 F. Supp. 2d 668, W.D. Tex. 2001, affirmed 2002). On May 27, 2016 the same court (No. EP-99-CV-320-KC) enjoined the Pueblo's sweepstakes gaming, and the Pueblo moved to bingo.

Texas then sued over the bingo (No. EP-17-CV-179-PRM) and won, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed on April 2, 2020 (No. 19-50400). The Supreme Court reversed on June 15, 2022, 5 to 4. Justice Gorsuch wrote that the act bans only games Texas prohibits outright; bingo, which Texas regulates, falls under tribal and federal law. Chief Justice Roberts dissented, joined by Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh. The Fifth Circuit vacated the injunction and remanded on July 21, 2022. In a March 24, 2023 letter, the National Indian Gaming Commission told the Pueblo it may offer Class II games other than those Texas bans. We haven't found a later ruling in the remanded case.

Texas v. Alabama-Coushatta Tribe (E.D. Texas and Fifth Circuit)

A 2002 injunction (208 F. Supp. 2d 670) barred the tribe from casino gaming. The tribe opened Naskila Gaming in May 2016 after the NIGC approved its bingo ordinance, and Texas moved for contempt. On March 14, 2019 the Fifth Circuit (No. 18-40116, 918 F.3d 440) upheld the refusal to dissolve the injunction, and the Supreme Court denied review in 2020. In late August 2021 Judge Keith Giblin ruled that Naskila's electronic bingo is allowed because Texas regulates bingo rather than prohibiting it. In July 2022, after the Ysleta decision, Paxton's office told the Fifth Circuit the state wouldn't appeal.

Texas v. United States (Fifth Circuit, No. 05-50754, 2007)

The Kickapoo aren't covered by the Restoration Act. Texas refused the tribe's 1995 request for a Class III compact, and the tribe's suit was dismissed on sovereign immunity grounds under Seminole Tribe. In 2004 the tribe asked the Interior Secretary for Class III gaming procedures under 25 C.F.R. Part 291, and Texas sued. On August 17, 2007 the Fifth Circuit held the Secretary lacked authority to issue the procedures (497 F.3d 491). Judge James Dennis dissented. Under that ruling, Class III gaming, the category that includes sports betting, requires a compact the state agrees to.

DraftKings v. Paxton (2016)

Paxton's Opinion KP-0057, issued January 19, 2016, concluded a court would likely find paid daily fantasy contests to be illegal gambling because Texas requires only partial chance. FanDuel stopped taking paid entries in Texas on May 2, 2016 under an agreement with his office. DraftKings sued Paxton in Dallas County civil court, and on May 2 Paxton moved to dismiss or transfer the case to Travis County. Politico reported on September 3, 2026 that DraftKings had recently dropped the suit, citing the Travis County register of actions.

TCHDallas2, LLC v. Espinoza (Dallas poker clubs)

Dallas issued poker clubs certificates of occupancy starting in 2020, then revoked them. In March 2022 the city's Board of Adjustment reinstated Texas Card House's certificate, and Dallas's chief building official sued the board. The 14th District Court (No. DC-22-03741) reversed the board. On August 27, 2024 the Fifth District Court of Appeals at Dallas (No. 05-22-01278-CV) reversed and rendered judgment restoring the board's decision, holding that the trial court couldn't substitute its own discretion. The Supreme Court of Texas denied review on September 5, 2025 (No. 24-0851). The ruling covered the permit and didn't decide whether social poker clubs comply with Chapter 47. Another club, Poker House Dallas, closed in June 2023 after a judge granted the city's request to shut it for lacking a valid permit.

Prediction market cases and the Fifth Circuit

Texas hasn't sued a prediction market, sent one a cease-and-desist letter, or been sued by one, as of September 27, 2026. The Fifth Circuit's only prediction market ruling came from Austin: in Clarke v. CFTC (No. 22-51124), decided July 21, 2023, a panel treated the Western District of Texas's failure to rule as a denial and sent the case back for a preliminary injunction protecting PredictIt's operators and traders, after the CFTC rescinded the market's 2014 no-action letter. Judge James E. Graves Jr. dissented, and the opinion doesn't address state gambling law.

The circuits that have ruled on sports event contracts don't bind Texas courts. The Third Circuit sided with Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026 (KalshiEX, LLC v. Flaherty, No. 25-1922). The Ninth Circuit ruled against Kalshi on August 28, 2026 (KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad, No. 25-7516), and the Sixth Circuit did the same for Ohio and Tennessee on September 25, 2026 (KalshiEX LLC v. Schuler, Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235). New Jersey's petition, No. 26-299, is pending at the Supreme Court, where Kalshi's response is due November 9, 2026.

Prediction markets and daily fantasy

Kalshi and Polymarket list sports contracts in Texas, according to CBS Sports' September 24, 2026 survey. Eilers & Krejcik's April Prediction Market Monitor, as reported by InGame, put California and Texas together at 43% of U.S. sports event contract volume. The Senate State Affairs Committee held its interim hearing on September 15, 2026, with five witnesses, among them Kalshi's head of enforcement, Robert DeNault, and the American Gaming Association's Tres York. Its recommendations go to the 2027 session.

Paxton hasn't joined the multistate filings. He didn't sign the June 2025 brief of 34 attorneys general in the Third Circuit, the March 2026 brief of 39 states backing Nevada, or the June 2026 brief supporting Ohio, and he skipped the August 2026 letter from 44 attorneys general to the CFTC. Politico reported that Kalshi gave $5,000 to his Lone Star Liberty PAC in May 2025 and that CEO Tarek Mansour gave his Senate campaign $7,000 on June 13, 2025. Novig, which Ludlow Exchange, LLC runs as a CFTC designated contract market (designated June 16, 2026), takes Texans 21 and older with ID; its eligibility page excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan.

Texas has no daily fantasy statute. KP-0057 is an advisory opinion, and no court has ruled on it. Action Network's January 2025 tracker lists both traditional salary-cap contests and pick'em contests as available in Texas.

Help with a gambling problem

We didn't find a state-run Texas helpline. The National Council on Problem Gambling's Texas page lists the national line, 1-800-MY-RESET.

Sources

Common questions

How we track and verify state laws

What does Legal Sportsbooks US track?

Every state's legal status, the date betting became legal, the minimum age, the regulator and the licensed apps, plus the legal history and court cases behind them, for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Our page on how we track and verify state laws explains the details.

What do the statuses mean?

Online and retail means licensed mobile apps and in-person sportsbooks both operate. Online only means betting happens through licensed apps, with no retail sportsbooks. Retail only means you can bet in person at licensed venues, but there's no statewide app. Not legal means no licensed sportsbooks operate. Legislation pending means a bill or ballot measure is moving, but betting hasn't launched. Not yet verified means we haven't confirmed the state's current status.

Can I bet on sports where I live?

The rules follow where you are when you place the bet. Licensed apps use geolocation to confirm you're inside a state where they can operate, and some states limit betting to certain premises. Find your state in the state index, or read our guide to location rules.

How old do you have to be to bet on sports?

It's 21 in 33 of the 40 jurisdictions with legal sports betting and 18 in five: Washington, D.C., Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming. In North Dakota and Washington, the tribal casino sets the age.

How current is the tracker?

State laws and licenses change, so every state entry records the date it was last verified. If a status looks out of date, the state regulator's website has the official answer.

Is this legal advice?

No. We summarize public information about state sports betting laws. Confirm the rules with your state regulator before you bet, and don't wager more than you can afford to lose.