Gambling With Texas

There are some things that Texans accept as making sense that seem really goofy to a non-Texan. Like the Texas liquor laws. They are very convoluted. I live in a wet zone, next to a dry zone. Right on the border. So, I am surrounded by liquor stores.

That sort of relates to my change of subject. That being gambling in Texas. For most types of gambling Texas is a dry zone. The bordering states are wet zones.

Texas allows gambling on horses. There is a state run lottery in Texas.

In state after state the Indian Nations have won court battles giving them the right to open casinos. But in Texas, the few Indians who were not run out of the state opened a couple casinos, but Texas successfully shut them down.

A few years back a Wal-Mart in Denton, Texas was doing a fun thing for seniors. As in they ran a freebie bingo game with prizes, like bananas and boxes of Depends. The state shut down the bingo game for violating the gambling laws. I don't remember if any of the elderly were arrested.

Ever so often a Texas politician will try to get casino gambling legalized in Texas, to no avail. I don't quite understand what the aversion to casinos is. Maybe Texas is being kind to Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico, knowing if casinos were legalized in Texas it would devastate the economies of those states.

A lot of money flows from Texas to the riverboat casinos across the border in Shreveport and Bossier City. Riverboat casinos? Well, it isn't just Texas that is convoluted about how they go about things. In Louisiana it was decided that somehow gambling was less sinful if it took place on a boat that could float away if need be.

Oklahoma allowed casinos a few years back. They are sort of pseudo casinos with make believe slot machines that I don't quite understand. New Mexico has real casinos that don't have to float.

When I was younger and living in Washington it was a fun thing to go to Reno, Nevada. Back then Nevada seemed so different from the rest of America. And then the Indian Tribes won the right to open casinos in all the states, except Utah, that surround Nevada. Now, when I'm in Tacoma, there are 2 Nevada quality casinos to play in. With real slot machines. That are actually entertaining. Like this giant Monopoly game one that plays like the real Monopoly game with giant dice spinning over head. Lulu and I somehow figured out how to regularly come out ahead on the Monopoly game. Lulu told me a new casino is under construction in Tacoma that will replace the Muckleshoot Casino as the state's biggest. Their seafood buffet is a good thing. The current big one in Tacoma, where I've played with Lulu, is called the Emerald Queen Casino.

Where I lived in Washington, the Skagit Valley, there are two Indian casinos, both prosperous. One run by the Swinomish Tribe with a marina and RV Park part of the casino complex, the other run by the Upper Skagit Tribe, with a large hotel. (built without government subsidy unlike what had to be done to get Fort Worth's seldom used Convention Center a hotel) A few miles south of where I lived the Tulalip Indians have built a Vegas quality casino that is quite cool. Prior to deciding the Golden Corral was the world's best buffet, Lulu thought that of the Tulalip Casino's buffet. That's the front of the Tulalip Casino with a pod of Orca Killer Whales and a giant Indian spearing a giant salmon.

Reno is on hard times due to all the west coast casinos. I think the same thing would happen to the casinos on the Texas border, if Texas were to allow casinos in Texas. All that money would stay in Texas. I think Texas is quite kind to help its neighbors like this.