Lobbyist with Republican Ties Signs On
as Warrior in Campaign to Stop Casinos

Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside
February 10, 2021

The Baptists have enlisted veteran GOP operative Ted Delisi to lead the fight against an expansion of gambling in Texas where he says the state needs new revenues from casinos "like Eskimos need more ice."

The analogy might conjure visions of climate change more than blackjack tables and one-arm bandits. Delisi's enlistment by the group Texans Against Gambling raises the specter - however - that the battle for Las Vegas-style wagering here is still under way in earnest despite Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's suggestion on Tuesday that the Texas Senate would be an insurmountable roadblock.

Delisi told the Baptist Standard on Tuesday that one of his responsibilities would be to "demonstrate the true fiscal reality of our state and the costs—economic and other—that come from the unneeded expansion of casino gambling.”

The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission will be leading the anti-gambling forces on multiple fronts during the 2021 regular session at the statehouse where a sports betting proposal and daily fantasy sports sites like DraftKings and FanDuel will be in its sights as well.

Patrick gave the Baptists and other anti-gambling forces cause for optimism when he said in a radio interview that would be all but dead on arrival in the Senate where he's the presiding officer and most of the Republicans are afraid to break ranks with him on any issue on which he's shown an interest.

Delisi will find himself dramatically outnumbered at the statehouse in the duel on casinos with dozens of high-powered lobbyists representing the Las Vegas Sands company that had the GOP's number one donor in Sheldon Adelson as its owner until he died last month.

But Patrick appeared to be focussed more on sports wagering than casinos when he issued the forecast of doom in a Lubbock radio interview that he worded in a way that stopped short of an actual pronouncement of death for any of the separate gambling issues on the Legislature's plate this year.

Patrick noted that he'd been opposed in the past to all of the various forms of gambling that are illegal in a state that's made exemptions for racetrack wagering and the lottery that's operated by a government agency. But the Republican Senate president said nothing on the West Texas talk show about using his singular power to kill gambling legislation if it has the necessary two-thirds support to give Texas voters the opportunity to make the final call themselves in a constitutional amendment.

Delisi wields substantial clout in the Austin lobby as a partner in a consulting firm with his wife Deirdre Delisi - a former chief of staff and campaign manager for Republican Rick Perry during his stint as the governor here. Deirdre Delisi is a former Texas Transportation Commission chair. Ted Delisi's mother Diane Delisi is a former Texas House Republican who's been a member of the firm as well.

Perry had wavered on an expansion of gambling - opposing it initially before endorsing legislation in a special session that would have given Texas horse and dog racing tracks the ability to set up slot machines on their premises.

While Texas voters may not be that concerned now about the future plight of Native Americans who are indigenous to Alaska and other places near the North Pole, the prevailing sentiment at the state Capitol in Austin is that the people here would approve sports betting or casinos or both if they had the chance at the polls in a statewide election.