Push to bring casinos to Texas appears headed for defeat this session despite high-profile campaign

“We have said from the beginning that we’re committed to Texas for the long haul,” Andy Abboud, Las Vegas Sands’ senior vice president of government relations, said in a statement given to The Texas Tribune on Monday evening. “We have made great strides this session and have enjoyed meeting with lawmakers about our vision for destination resorts and answering all the questions they have.”

Abboud added that the feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive,” promising the company “will continue to build on this progress over the final days of the legislation session, and over the coming months, we will continue to build community support across the state to ultimately turn this vision into a reality.”

The end of the session is May 31, and bill-killing deadlines are in full swing.

The casino bills are meeting a similar fate to that of legislation to legalize sports betting. The House bill to legalize sports betting got a hearing before the State Affairs Committee last month and was not voted out before the Monday deadline. The Senate bill to legalize sports betting, meanwhile, has not gotten a committee hearing.