Honorable Todd Hunter, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2843 by Kuempel (relating to the authorization, licensing, and regulation of casino gaming and sports wagering in this state, to the creation, powers, and duties of the Texas Gaming Commission, to the support of the horse racing industry and reform of horse racing and greyhound racing, and to other provisions related to gambling; imposing and authorizing administrative and civil penalties; imposing taxes; imposing and authorizing fees; requiring occupational licenses; creating criminal offenses.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would create multiple new offenses relating to casino gaming and sports wagering. The bill would create a third degree felony offense relating to the conveyance of casino property; create a Class A misdemeanor offense relating to the willful failure to report, pay, or account for a casino gaming or sports wagering fee or tax; create a third degree felony offense relating to casino gaming and sports wagering fraud; create a third degree felony offense for possessing or using a device to assist in analyzing probability of an event relating to the game, projecting the outcome, or card tracking; create a third degree felony offense for using counterfeit or non-authorized tokens or chips; create a state jail felony offense for knowingly cheating at any gambling game; create a Class A misdemeanor offense for the possession of an unlawful gaming device; create a third degree felony offense for the unlawful manufacture, sale or distribution of gaming equipment; create a Class A misdemeanor offense relating to an unlawful violation of any prohibited act under the bill's provisions; create a third degree felony offense for the unauthorized operation, use, or possession of a gaming device; create a Class C misdemeanor offense relating to the sale of a gambling game to or the purchase of a gambling game by a person younger than 21; and create a Class C misdemeanor relating to playing a gambling game with public assistance funds.
Creating new criminal offenses may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to a lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to criminal penalties.