The Josh Innes Show - Greg Abbott Wants Sports Betting In Texas

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he wants legalized sports betting in Texas. Great! It should be legal everywhere. There is really no reason for a tourist to visit Dallas or Houston. You know what would make them come? Casinos. I'm amazed by what vices we legalize and what vices we hide away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All righty, Jamokes. Here's good news if you're in Texas and you're a degenerate. Headline reads, Governor Greg Abbott, affectionately known as Roller Governor to members of Just Nation. Governor Greg Abbott tells podcast he supports online sports betting. Let's freaking go, baby. Make it happen. Shit, if you can get online sports betting in Texas, I'll be there tomorrow. I'll just become a professional sports better. I'll sit around all day. We'll get like a very bare

bones apartment, like a studio apartment. Me, Jilly, Ross, like one couch, one television, one mini fridge, professional gambler mode engaged. But let's read the story and see how likely this actually is. During the Houston Chronicles Texas Take podcast, Abbott said, quote, I don't have a problem with online sports betting. The reality is that I'd be shocked if there were not some Texans that do it already. No way. Wow. Look at Greg Abbott. perceptive you are there Gregory Hell, when we were on 97.5 One of the main clients was mybookie.ag Or whatever the fuck it was

I don't know where it was based out of But of course people are already online sports betting On some of these offshore ones They might be driving to Louisiana to do it I guess if they didn't legalize it and we did move to Houston, I'd have to drive my ass to Louisiana like every Saturday morning to bet. Basically, here's what would have to happen. This is the level of degenerate I would have to be if I moved to Houston and sports betting wasn't legalized. I'd have to drive to Louisiana every

week, probably get a hotel room, or just go at my dad's place. Like Saturdays and Sundays, I go to my dad's place. I crash and let's fucking go. Now, part of the problem I run into there is I do not believe you can bet on college player props, which sucks. So that part hurts because that's one of my favorites, but NFL player props, college football games you can bet on shit. That'd be a thing of beauty maybe i do that i'm moving back to houston and during football season i take up residence on basically starting thursday i just drive my ass to louisiana thursday night football friday college football saturday college football sunday nfl monday nfl come back tuesday or i should just go move into my dad's house and

become a look let me tell you what I would do this is the God's honest truth and this might make me sound like a degenerate or a loser or a degenerate loser but this is what I would do if there were no dog and there were no wife and it were just Josh

vagabond radio host Josh bouncing from town to town like a sailor going from port to port. If it were just me, six months ago, I would have rolled my ass over to Louisiana and just crashed at my dad's house. He's got a pool. He's got an extra bedroom. I'd bring my TV. I'd sit in one of his extra bedrooms.

I'd go float in his pool and I would just bet all day long. Now, that is if I didn't have, I mean, boy, what a perfect setup it would have been too because I was getting severance for six months, which I have a couple more of those coming and then it's over. But imagine that. You got six months of severance. Now, I would still probably have to pay the rent at this place, which again would suck, but it is what it is. So basically, you pay the rent here. Maybe you could just leave this as like a storage unit. Again, this is if there were no wife and no dog, right? No wife, no dog, no responsibilities, just vagabond radio guy got fired in St. Louis has six months to kill with

nothing to do looking for a fucking job. What should he do? I would just leave all my shit here as like a storage unit, right? Like leave the lights off and shit and everything here so all the bills aren't overly high. I would go move into my dad's house for free for long periods of time and just bet on sports. But then again, well, no, that would make sense actually because here I can't bet on sports in the house. Now, if I could bet on sports in the house, it wouldn't matter. But I have to drive to Illinois every day to go bet on sports. So why not just go crash at my dad's house for free where there's a pool, crush shit tons of beer, and just go bet on sports all day?

Shit, that would be the life. My God. But I'm married. My wife doesn't want to do that but I offered it I said listen let's just go move into my dad's house my dad was like come move in with us for a while I'm like yeah I don't think Jilly wants to do that but I certainly would I mean why not like I'm still kind of in limbo like I don't want to commit to like an apartment somewhere or something and then boom a job comes up you know but I also don't want to sit in this place that cost me 24 50 a month

to live in either you know so because I can't I want to sit in this place that cost me $2,450 a month to live in either, you know, so, because I can't, look, at some point I'm not going to be able to afford that. Right now I'm still living, you know, in the lap of luxury here because of the fact, you know, I'm still getting severance, but once that severance runs out, your boy ain't affording a $2,500 a month house, so I got to have a plan. And I know what you're saying, Josh, that doesn't seem like a very good plan, not a very smart plan, not a very effective plan to sit around and be like, hey, I'm going to become a professional sports better. But let me tell you this, and you might say, I am arguably the greatest live sports better on the planet. When I'm disciplined. The problem is I don't get disciplined enough

and then I make stupid bets and then I'm down. But when I'm disciplined, I am arguably on the Mount Rushmore of live bettors in this country. Do I know who the others are? I need to reach out to FanDuel and be like, let me ask you a question. Can you pull me statistical data that shows you like who the best live bettors in the country are? Because I guarantee you my ass is up there. They might name something after me because I'm such an elite live bettor. But unfortunately, I get, you know, my spurs start jingling and jangling and then I end up, you know,

fucking shit up. But like I do with most things in life, I'm not very good at handling success. It's like I need to fail. It keeps me humble. That's why I keep getting fired. I say keep getting fired. I've been fired twice, but like, and then laid off once. So like you say, Josh, how do you keep getting fired at these places? It's because it keeps me hungry. You see what I'm saying? I'm hungry. It keeps me humble, But I do need to go see a shrink at some point and try to figure out why exactly I just deliberately mess things up. It's like I almost can't handle success. It's like if someone gets out of prison and can't handle being out of prison, so they just go commit another crime to go back to prison. That's kind of how I feel about myself. It's like, Josh, you've had all these big gigs that people would kill for. Why do you find a way to destroy these big gigs? And it's like, I don't know. Maybe I feel like I don't deserve it. Maybe I feel like I'm an imposter and I have to blow it up. Maybe I'm just better when I have to come from the bottom up. Maybe I'm a good climber, but not a good sustainer. I don't know. I'm sure a shrink

could tell me that or one of these online shrinks that you can go talk to that they promote on all these podcasts. I don't know. Some Sigmund Freud shit. Anyway, let me continue reading this story about the sports betting. I haven't really gotten any details on this. I've read two lines from this thing and then rambled on about myself. So let's do this. Let's play a couple commercials and continue. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you've got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept.

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One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. Let's see. It's encouraging. We've seen people over the last couple of sessions evolve and be open and supportive of it, said Senator Carl Alvarado told ABC 13. The governor's comments come after a blockbuster NBA trade that rocked the sports world over the weekend that sent superstar Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavericks are owned by the family that runs the Las Vegas Sands Casino Company.

Sports betting has become intertwined with professional sports, and many fans are speculating about the timing of Abbott's comment. Alvarado, a Houston Democrat, believes its progress, quote, will build on it. We'll continue to talk about it. I'll continue to file gaming legislation, said Alvarado, who has been pushing for sports betting and casinos to become legal in Texas since 2009. You, sir, are a hero. I'll vote for you. Fuck it. State Senator Alvarado, you keep fighting for that sports betting in Texas and you got my vote. That's really all voting is, right? You vote on things that matter to you. And most shit that like these Democrats and people care about, or even both

sides care about, I don't really give a shit about. But when you start talking about legalizing sports betting in a state, that friend is something I'm passionate about and I would vote for you. This is about diversifying our economy. Boy, what was that? This is about diversifying our economy, making Texas a destination place with conferences and conventions, but also for people to vacation to. Well, I don't know that people are going to vacation to Texas because they can bet on sports. Although I guess if you built, well, I guess because there's no casinos there. So I get your point now. You got to build nice casinos, casinos that have sports betting. And then, yeah, like if you think about Houston, for instance, Houston's not a place that people are desperate to come to

for vacation. In fact, I don't think there's any reason to ever go to Houston for vacation. There is nothing that's like a big sightseeing thing. There's no amusement park. There's no big water parks. There are small water parks out in Katy and shit, but there's nothing major. So like what incentive would you have to come to Houston? Now, what if you threw in some casinos where you could sports bet and you got big resorts like, hey, everybody, here's like a a big resort casino then maybe so I mean look do you think anybody would go to Lake Charles Louisiana if not for the fact that there's a handful of casinos if there were no golden nugget and no laberge in Lake Charles do you think people would be like all right kids load up the the truckster we're going to Lake Charles. Of course they wouldn't, but the casinos do that.

And I'm not saying that Houston is Lake Charles, but in terms of shit to do on a vacation, unless you're like, hey, we're going to a ball game or something, like, hey, the family is going to spend a weekend in Houston and go see the Astros, well, that's one thing. Go get a hotel, stay in a hotel for a couple of nights, go to a couple of ball games. What do you do during the day when the ball game isn't happening hey we went to the galleria and dodged some bullets that

was fun like what do you do like it's not a touristy type place there isn't that family amusement park that degenerate casino for people to go to so i get where you're coming from there mr alvarado wait a second is that a her or Wait a second. What is this person's name? Because it says her. Wait a... Oh, Carol. Oh, that's a lady. I apologize. How did I not see that that said Carol? Why did I think it was Carol like Carol O'Connor? Okay, it's a lady. I'm sorry. Ladies can also do stuff and we're all going to have to accept that. So, Carol, you would have my vote. Now, my guess is if you're a liberal state senator in Texas and you're a Democrat, you'd probably hate me on a personal level. But I got your back as it relates to gambling.

How did I not realize that that was Carol Alvarado? Like, how did I not see Carol? I guess I might be dyslexic. I might have thought that that said, like, Lucas or something. I have no—LaRock. I might have thought that that said like Lucas or something. I have no... La Rock. La Rock Alvarado. Perhaps that's what... La Rock Alvarado.

And I thought maybe it was like some Hispanic dude's name. I read it backwards. What the fuck am I doing? Anyway, sorry, ma'am. You're fine at what you do. We'll build on it. We'll continue. Okay, we read that.

Her proposal would limit the number of resort casinos and facilities in the state to just a handful. But first, the legislature would need to amend the Constitution, which would require two-thirds vote of both chambers and a vote of the people. Last session, a similar bill never made it to the Senate. So far, Abbott said he supports only online sports betting. Alvarado said casino gambling is still an uphill battle with powerful opponents who are these powerful opponents like is it the right-wing people that oppose this shit why is that don't tell me about fucking freedoms and everything like don't feed me your bullshit about how we should be free and guns and god and fucking

everything and then tell me I can't go to a casino and play a goddamn slot machine in your state cut the shit I'm going to assume it's right-wing people. I don't know this for a fact. But there's a lot of, look, I'm not trying to rip right-wing, left-wing. I don't give a shit. But generally speaking, when it comes to this kind of shit, I feel like right-wing people tend to oppose this. Because I have no idea why the liberal people would. But, like, look, this is fucking America, chief.

People are going to do what they're going to fucking do. You make drugs illegal, you know what? They still find a way to do blow and heroin and everything else. So fuck it. Legalize that shit to legalize all the vices and let people figure their own shit out. We shouldn't be in the fucking business of trying to control how people live and control what vices they partake in and try to control them as people and try to baby them. If look, I don't smoke pot. I never have, right? That option is there. I could smoke pot all day if I wanted to. I don't. You know why? Because I choose not to. I like beer. I'm not a fucking alcoholic, probably, you know, contrary to popular belief, but like I'm not someone that sits around and drinks beer all

fucking day. I talk about it a lot and I drink beer on the weekends. During the week, I very rarely drink any alcohol. I can control myself in that way. Sports betting, I've lost a lot of money doing that. And you know what? You could argue that I was addicted to it at one point. I really enjoyed doing it, but you could argue that at one point it really cost me a lot of money.

But I also had the money to lose at the time, so who gives a fuck, right? We all make these decisions in life. We are adults. We should be allowed to be adults and make those decisions and not have some governing body tell us what we can and cannot do.

Because you know what? People are gonna do it anyway. Sports betting's illegal in Texas, right? Go to mybookie.ag and place a bet somewhere in Costa Rica or Nicaragua or wherever the fuck it is. You're gonna be able to get money from those people if you hit a bet.

So why not have it in Texas? Why not make that money in Texas? It's stupid. And I just love which vices we choose to say are horrible. You can go into a gas station and just pop a beer and go to your car, presumably. You could walk into a gas station and buy a singular 24-ounce beer. What do you think you're going to do with that 24-ounce beer when you go back to your car? Do you think someone's just going to sit there and hold on to it until they get home? No guy just got off a hard day at the fucking lumber yard and he's ready to pop a top on one in a brown paper bag and he's going to drive around and have a fucking beer. Cigarettes kill everybody. The prescription drug epidemic is a monster right now. I take this

Manjaro in the coming years. It's probably going to cause my body to fucking melt and rot from the inside, but I do it anyway. But we've got people that are on television, commercials. I got type two diabetes, but I manage it well. It's a little pill with a big story to tell. I take once daily Jardians at each day start. All this shit, right? They got commercials on television telling you about prescription drugs. People like, how are we in a universe where you can turn on the TV and you're watching commercials for prescription drugs? It is absolute bullshit. Yet somehow we're in Texas and we're like, you know what, guys?

I don't think we should be able to bet on the Chiefs game tonight. I just don't think. It is preposterous. There is not a negative. The one thing about Texas, and there are beautiful places when you're out of the big cities of Texas, when you go to like the hill country, gorgeous vacation spots, bodies of water, hills, gorgeous shit. West Texas, there's so much cool shit and ghost towns and all this shit. You go to the major cities in Texas and they are essentially just gigantic glass ranches where

there's really nothing special about them. You go to San Antonio, you get a creek that runs through the fucking town and SeaWorld. That's what you get. You go to Houston, there ain't shit. Really great if you live there. Amazing parks, amazing food, a wonderful place to live, but no reason to come to Houston unless you're going to see a baseball game or a football game or whatever. Same can be said for Dallas. They've got amusement parks, cool, but outside of that, there's nothing overly special. Unless you want to see where the president was plugged, you can go do that. Outside of that, there's nothing super special about the major cities. It's not like when you go to Philadelphia and oh boy, there's Independence Mall and then there's all this history. Like I worked next door to Independence Hall. Never went.

I feel dumb for that. But I worked at 4th and Market. We were right next door to the Jewish Museum, which was a block over from Independence Hall or Independence Mall. I would walk by there every single day when I got off the train and went to work. That's history.

That's historic shit you're seeing. At least in Houston or in San Antonio, there's the Alamo, which is not very impressive when you see it in person, but it's history. That's historic shit you're seeing. At least in Houston, there's, or in San Antonio, there's the Alamo, which is not very impressive when you see it in person, but it's there. Outside of that in Texas, there isn't a ton of shit in your major cities that people are clamoring to go see, to see for vacation destinations, to fill the hotels, right? There's conventions, there's all that shit, but put some casinos in there. Give people like a big casino fucking resort. Give me one of those. Why should people have to go to Louisiana or Oklahoma to go to a casino resort when

you're in Texas, the greatest goddamn state in the union? The best fucking place there is, a place I'd give my left nut to be back in right now, working on the radio again. And we can't get casinos. We can't get sports gambling, but we can get sports gambling in Louisiana. We can get casinos in Louisiana. They're smart. They needed something to get people to go to their state they got something to go to their state what are we doing i don't know man i don't know i don't know if that's what we want to do if that's what we're about here do it legalize it and don't try to do it under the

guy like i hate when people do the the guys of morality like well you know people get addicted to this shit you know else they're addicted to cigarettes you can go to the gas station right fucking now and get cigarettes you know people are addicted to uh gambling right go to the lottery go to go to the grocery store right now and go get some scratchers or go buy some lottery tickets you know what that is gambling i watched my grandma do it for a hundred fucking years that's gambling you what people are addicted to? Alcohol. You know where you can get alcohol? At fucking Toys R Us probably in Texas.

Like that's how it works. So that's okay. Those vices are okay. But sports betting, whoa, pump the brakes. We got a case of morality that we just caught. Legalize the shit. Legalize sports betting. Legalize the casinos.

Build some mega resorts. Bring in some revenue. Thank you. All right, more to come.