Texas Hold ‘Em: A Look at Online Sports Gambling in Texas
Article By: Joaquin D. Valle, Writer | BCS Chronicle
Technology has progressed so much over the years and with this progress comes many new age problems. In the 21st Century, It is easy to get engrossed in different hobbies using the internet, such as online gambling. Digital sports betting is a new way to gamble on your favorite teams or players whenever and wherever you want. Additionally, sports betting apps have low levels of security, so it is easy for minors and people in United States with strict gambling laws to begin their gambling journey.
One junior at Texas A&M University has been sports betting on different apps for many years.
“Technically 2 years before that though I’d say in 7th or 8th grade I got the Fanduel app,” said the student.
He described how easy it was to get an account setup and start putting money in.
“I had my dad make my account for Fanduel and deposited some of my allowance and from there I was gambling,” he said.
Sports gambling users describe the activity as fun, because the potential of winning is higher than if someone were to spend their money at the casino on slot machines or card games.
“It is more a game of the person rather than a slot machine where you push a button and hope you get lucky,” one student said. “There is skill involved and a lot of people get hooked on that.”
If someone were to watch a football game almost every other commercial is for a sports betting app or agency using the most famous people to promote their services.
“You have Kevin Hart getting sponsored by them, you have actual NFL players getting sponsored and very famous artists,” said the Aggie junior. “They are promoting it and these are people with alot of money to lose so it does not affect them like it would an 18 year old kid on minimum wage.”
This student later described how the biggest problem with the whole hobby is its accessible nature.
“34 states allow sports gambling and a few states that allow online betting,” said the student. “Even though it is only legal in a couple states it is very easy to bypass the law and apps security.
Additionally, users described how even if sports gambling is not legal where you reside, it is very easy to just use a VPN and change your location so anyone could play from anywhere in the world.
According to the Texas State Law Library, the only acceptable ways to gamble is with state lotteries, pari mutuel betting (pool betting, where all the money used for gambling is put into a big pool), charitable bingo, and raffles. These are common in horse and greyhound racing and, even though Texas law does not specifically say a resident cannot gamble online, it is implied. However, with the use of VPNs or contacts with people outside of the state, Texans are still finding a way to raise their stakes even without the state’s approval.