Leave Texas on a major highway north, and you will pass a casino within a few miles of the state line. Go east on I 20 and again casinos within a few miles. West, you got it, casinos. What is wrong with this picture? Not only are you leaving Texas to get to the casinos, so is your money. We are supporting our neighboring states gaming establishments, and getting nothing for our own state. This is wrong on so many levels.
Oklahoma, the 38Th most populated state with a population of 3.5 million, has the fourth largest gaming industry in America. Revenue from gaming in Oklahoma for 2010 was 3.19 billion dollars. Another 442 million dollars were spent in area hotels, stores, and restaurants. This is according to the Indian Gaming Industry Report 2010, and the American Gaming Association.
39 states have casinos and card rooms. Texas has one racetrack with slot machines. Yes, we are behind times in Texas. We have the Lotto, Scratch Offs, Horse Racing, and Bingo, but no casinos. We are sending our money, our jobs, our tax revenues to surrounding states.
We have a budget problem here in Texas. A shortfall of between 15 and 31 billion dollars depending on who you listen too. School districts all over the state are in trouble and having to make cuts. Programs to teach our children how to be a part of something, are being shut down. Not just bands, choirs, sports teams, and other organizations, some districts are even charging for bus service to and from school. These are programs are where our children learn to interact with each other, with society. We are accepting the narrow minded opinions of a few groups to take away the chance for college scholarships for our children. 60000 students lost financial aid this year due to budget shortfalls. Some of these scholarships and aid would be the only way some of these students can go to college.
How many jobs could we create here in Texas if we had casinos? How many dollars in tax money would we raise? How much would the local economy be affected if all those cars going north, east, and west were just going down the street? How many cars would be coming from those states along our border to spend money here? Texas always does it better, the problem is we just are not doing it and we should be.