Save the youth

Dallas Cowboys’ co-owner Charlotte Jones has called for Texas to legalize online sports betting in order to save vulnerable young people from the risks of using apps offered by the unregulated market. 

remove threatening “bad actors”

The Cowboys Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer said in a CBS interview she supports legalizing the vertical in Texas as it would remove threatening “bad actors.”  

Media personality Bill Jones interviewed Jones for CBS News and shared a clip on X in which the Cowboys exec expressed her concern that unauthorized betting firms were preying on youth in the state:

The daughter of legendary Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said people in Texas “don’t understand” the risk of offshore operators and that a regulated market is needed to protect them. 

All about the apps

Jones said that apps provided by illegal operators are “targeting” Texas schoolkids.?

“They’re going direct to them in this black market and allowing them to participate in this gambling where they don’t have to prove their age and they don’t have to verify anything,” Jones warned.?

“They then find themselves in a trap they can’t get out of.”

Jones added that the motive for a legal market with restrictions would be “so our kids can become safe.”

As chief overseer of the Cowboys marketing department and all brand strategies and applications, Jones also has the background to appreciate the wider potential of a legal Texas sports betting market. Citing Pennsylvania’s haul of $640m in tax revenue over five years that the state plowed “back into the community,” Jones posed a question. 

“Just think if we had that money here in Texas, think about what that could mean for so many things for us that are important to Texans,” Covers cited her as stating.   

In the opposing corner

Jones hopes her backing can alter Texans’ perspectives on sports betting, but the buck currently stops at Senate level in the form of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. 

While Patrick has opposed gambling proposals in the past, high-profile lobbyists at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas recently said they believe the chances of Texas approving a legal gambling market in 2025 is 50%.

They were, however, talking about a legal casino market. Jones nevertheless remains hopeful a sports betting bill will also cross the line and voters get a say because “it’s our decision as Texans how we think our state should be regulated.”