California, Texas Sports-Betting Ban Prohibits Legal Olympic Wagering In Two Biggest States

Athletes from California and Texas are among other Americans vying for medals at the Summer Olympics underway in Paris.

But people in the nation’s two most populated states, California and Texas, can’t bet legally on the games — or any other athletic events. Sports betting is illegal in those two major population centers, representing about 70 million people out of the nation’s more than 336 million. Across the country, sports betting is legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C.

USA Loaded With California, Texas Athletes

California is well-represented at the summer games with a delegation that includes, on the men's basketball team, LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. During the NBA season, the U.S. team’s head coach, Steve Kerr, coaches the San Francisco-based Warriors.

The University of Southern California, rooted in Los Angeles, has 66 athletes at the games, the most of any U.S. university, according to the USC Trojans X account.

Texas also has a strong delegation among the 592 U.S. athletes. Gymnast Simone Biles, a Texas native, is one of several elite Olympic athletes with a connection to the state, as is the U.S. basketball team’s Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns. Durant played college basketball for the University of Texas Longhorns.

The 2024 summer games are set to conclude Aug. 11.

California Could Be Shut Out Until 2026 Or Later

While legal sports betting is off the table this summer in California and Texas, questions remain whether it will be lawful in either state in time for the next winter and summer games. The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are in Italy, while Los Angeles is hosting the next Summer Olympics in 2028.

In California, voters in 2022 defeated sports-betting proposals in bruising ballot campaigns that put commercial sports-betting operators at odds with tribal leaders.

In a recent “Straight to the Point” Substack post, gaming analyst Steve Ruddock noted that California tribes, under a plan relayed by Pechanga.net publisher Victor Rocha, could seek to allow in-person sports betting at tribal casinos in 2026, and then “if all goes well, online in 2028.”

As Ruddock noted, the question is whether commercial sports-betting operators can repair their relationship with California tribes enough by 2028 to get a piece of the online action.

Anti-Gaming Factions Block Texas Gaming Expansion

The path to legal sports betting in Texas also could be challenging. In past legislative sessions, Texas lawmakers have shot down proposals to legalize sports betting and a limited number of commercial casinos. Opposition has come from religious groups and other anti-gaming factions.

At the same time, Las Vegas Sands Corp., under billionaire Miriam Adelson, has led an effort to expand gaming in Texas, spending millions in the process.

Along with others seeking gaming expansion, Las Vegas Sands is expected to make another push when lawmakers next meet at the capital in Austin for the 2025 session.

The Adelson family has purchased controlling interest in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and reportedly is seeking to partner with the team's former majority owner, Mark Cuban, in developing an arena-casino complex in North Texas. Cuban still oversees basketball operations for the team.

Meanwhile, the North Texas Commission is forming an exploratory committee to examine the possibility of destination gaming in the region, according to WFAA-TV, an ABC affiliate in Dallas.

Despite these efforts, some remain doubtful Texas will have sports betting or commercial casinos in the near future.

In a recent interview on Gambling.com’s “The Edge,” former Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns, pointing to opposition from Texas anti-gaming lawmakers and others, said he doubts gaming expansion will occur in the Lone Star State until the 2030s.