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The Scripps Howard Texas Poll released Monday shows 67 percent of the Texans surveyed favor considering gambling as a funding source, but only 40 percent support calling another special
legislative session to reform the school finance system.
Forty eight percent of those surveyed oppose a second special session.
The poll also shows most Texans support new, voluntary taxes. Results show 68 percent support a dollar cigarette tax, while 70 percent support a tax on concert, movie and sports tickets. And 54
percent support raising the sales tax one-half cent, while most oppose creating a state property tax for education.
Pollsters contacted a thousand Texans from May 3 through May 15. The results have a margin of error plus or minus three percentage points.
Key lawmakers are now saying the passage of a law legalizing slot machines will likely occur by June 30, the deadline for the state to pass a budget.
"People are now talking to each other with a real commitment to resolve this," said Gary Tuma, a spokesman for State Sen. Vince Fumo, D-1, the powerful Philadelphia Democrat.
Fumo, Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, holds particular influence with Senate Democrats, whose support for slot machines will be essential.
The measure enjoys little support among Republicans in the Senate, where Democrats hold 21 of the 50 seats.
A bipartisan group of legislators, including Fumo, are working with the governor’s staff to craft a proposal that would survive votes by the Senate and House.
Gov. Ed Rendell came to office in 2003 with a plan to lower property taxes with revenue from slot machines.
How many slot machine venues will be permitted ranks among the more important factors being worked out.
Tuma said negotiators are considering a plan to allow 3,000 slot machines at eight race tracks, permitting operators to add another 2,000 after six months if the demand exists.
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That was, of course, pure fiction. But when ESPN revamped its coverage of �The World Series of Poker,� which obviously takes place in Vegas, we paid closer attention. The network turned poker from just a game to a sport, taking tiny cameras (the kind the CIA uses for sting operations) and embedding them into the table to see a player�s hand. They told us the odds of winning each hand. They even showed players jawing at each other, trading barbs. This time, our hearts raced, we rooted for players as if cheering for our home team and we saw just how cool it was to throw in a few thousand dollars (ten thousand, to be exact) and play�just for fun. Bravo then seized the day and threw celebrities into the mix in �Celebrity Poker Showdown,� now enjoying its second season after acting as a lead-in to �Queer Eye for the Straight Guy� last year. |