From the latest TPJ Lobby Watch:
Gambling interests with stakes in the legalization of casinos or slot machines bet heavily on Democratic House candidates going into the Republican-dominated 2010 elections. Political bookies widely expected the GOP to expand its slim House majority this round, though few envisioned the extent of the sweep until late in the race.
On election night the gambling industry’s losses mirrored those of the Texas Democratic Party. Indian tribes and gambling PACs bet almost $1 million on Texas House candidates—with 80 percent going to the battered Democrats. Almost two-thirds of the money that the gambling industry bet in the House went to losers.
It’s pretty stark when you look at their table on page 3. There’s a grand total of three successful Republican legislative candidates there, one of whom is the late Rep. Ed Kuempel, and a long list of unsuccessful Democratic incumbents and challengers. I know the gambling interests claim to be optimistic, and I’m sure they’ve spent the past month getting acquainted with the boatload of new Republican legislators, but I just don’t see how the basic math is anything but less favorable to them now. Better luck in 2012, fellas.