Do we have gamblers in Texas?
Do we have bears in the East Texas woods? Gambling in Texas is getting closer all the time and with a reported $15 to $18 billion dollar deficit looming, legal gaming in Texas, meaning casino style gambling is just around the corner.
For the record, I’m not much of a gambler. Just can’t bring myself to do it. I lurk around the nickel slot machines. 
Whether it is on a cruise ship, in New Mexico at Ruidoso, in Las Vegas, or Louisiana, I just can hardly bring myself to put money in one of the machines that rarely gives it back. In Ruidoso, I go and park Ramona at a blackjack table, get her situated, then go out and hit shag balls at the golf course.
Like a lot of gambling lurkers, I once ran up some pretty big numbers on a nickel slot machine in Louisiana. I hit it big for 880 nickels, my only claim to fame as a gambler. It turns out that 880 nickels is $44. Wow.
Ramona on the other hand is a pretty good gambler. I’ve watched her and my friends Tim and Jim Bob sit at a blackjack table and she just kept feeding me $100 chips. We more than paid for our trip. I’ve seen her do that more than once. While I am out walking around seeing the sites of a particular casino, she is sitting there patiently playing and more often than not….winning. I go by and she discretly hands me the $100 chips.
I don’t give ‘em back. She has fun and so do I. I people watch. I observe reactions. And occasionally, I try my own luck. I like gambling OK. It’s just that I really don’t know how. It seems to me the craps players have the most fun. They whoop and holler the most…but that’s all I know about craps. I can do the roulette thing, but I’m just not as intense as some of those folks. I’ve played Texas Hold’em at a casino night in San Angelo, and it was fun. But again, I didn’t really know what I was doing.
I’ve also been to horse races where there is gambling and a man I call Coach Page had to teach me how to bet on the horses. I won about $400 on a race and he had to explain it all to me.
I’ve been to Las Vegas twice. I was over 50 years old before I ever went the first time. I walked around with my mouth open most of the time saying things like “look at that over there.” We took #1 son Joe David with us and one morning when we were getting up to start our sightseeing, he was just getting in. That’s what a yokel I really was (am).
The point of all this is….gambling in Texas is coming sooner rather than later. If I were king, I would declare Galveston Island a casino zone and let the good times roll. The Balinese Room would make a comeback and this time, It would be Texas Taxpayers who would be getting some benefit out of it all.
Here is State Senator Rodney Ellis discussing legal gambling in Texas in a coherent way:
Yes, there is a seedy side to gambling, but when I have driven through Louisiana and seen the casinos there with all the Texas license plates on vehicles outside, I am convinced us Texans are a pretty seedy bunch. We like to gamble.
And Ruidoso? That’s just part of North West Texas.
I’m David out in Real Texas
…Still have my first nickel
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
…and all he gets when he hits practice golf balls is blisters on his hands…
Well, until they do legalize gambling in Texas all of ya’ll just keep comin’ over to Bossier City, and win lots and lots of money. The politicians have told us that we won’t have to pay as many taxes, because of the casinos, but taxes have not gone down, and everytime they need something, they still raise the tax, so I am really sure where that casino money is going, although I have a pretty good idea.
The only time I went to Vegas, I had three quarters burning a hole in my pocket. I finally put them all in a machine walking through Caesar’s Palace. I won $275.00 and came home with $200 of it.
If they legalize gambling, I will put slots in the church. You have to bring a paycheck stub and you can only gamble 10% of your gross earnings. If you win, great! If not, you’ve supported a good cause. (Just in case you are wondering, I’m just joking.)
By the way David, I think God might be speaking to you. Look at your first two commenters.
Ok, took too long to write….first and third comments.
Shoot, I’m all for gambling in Texas. It would sure cut expenses for me and some of my friends. Let’s give-er a try. what do you say? We are all retired and need something to do
besides staring at the four walls around here.
Hey J. B. Bitner are you any relation to a Sam Bitner from Around San Angelo and Abilene. I used to work with him years ago and have lost track of him.
Thanks