A look at the effort to legalize sports betting in Texas

1 big thing: The push to legalize sports betting

Illustration of a slot machine featuring a basketball, baseball and football, ending in three dollar signs.

2. 🔎 What's new in this year's effort

Beyoncé bringing tour to Dallas

3. 💃 Beyoncé on stage, rockin'

4. 🗞 Burnt ends: Bite-sized news bits 

Illustration of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, animating on and off the screen.

A new career is waiting for you

5. 📸 Pic du jour: Winter Somethingland

6. 🔮 One groundhog accuracy check to go

☔️ Today's weather: Warming up to a balmy 36°, with a chance of more freezing rain followed by regular rain.

❌ Situational awareness: Dallas ISD, Fort Worth ISD and other school districts are closed again today due to continued icy conditions.

Hundreds of flights out of DFW and Love Field were canceled yesterday. Double check your travel status and road conditions before heading out.

Today's newsletter is 949 parlayed words — a 3.5-minute read.

This newsletter was edited by Lindsey Erdody and copy edited by Judith Isacoff and Yasmeen Altaji.

🐈 Mike is learning about the grandma who got arrested for feeding feral cats.

🍷 Tasha is thinking about which day of her life she'd most like to live over and over forever.

🎞️ Naheed is sad to report that she actually hates "Groundhog Day." 

Wanna increase our odds of success? Become a Dallas member for as little as $50 a year and get exclusive newsletters and access to members-only events!

Dallas

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Dallas. Written by Michael Mooney and Tasha Tsiperas.

Axios Dallas

Housing market is resurrecting

1 big thing: Housing market is resurrected

Illustration of a zombie's hand emerging from a grave, clutching keys.

2. 💸 Dallas rents are still too damn high

3. ⌛ Remote work perks

Illustration of a clock moving backwards. The hands of the clock are made out of the Axios logo.

Illustration of a mustang wearing glasses and reading the news on a phone.

Is a new job in your future?

Dallas Cowboys fans are sexy and should know it

5. 😍 Cowboys fans are sexy and should know it

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones points at fans. 

Happy Monday! Play music that makes you happy.

🥶 Today's weather: Cold and rainy all day.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for North Texas, from this afternoon through Wednesday morning.

📉 Situational awareness: The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank says its inflation measure dropped in December to 4.4%, down from 4.6% in November. 

Today's newsletter is 961 objectified words — a 3.5-minute read.

This newsletter was edited by Lindsey Erdody and copy edited by Khalid Adad and Lisa Hornung.

💪 Mike is glad the world finally recognizes his sexiness. 

💙 Tasha is rethinking her lack of Cowboys fandom. 

🎧 Naheed is wondering if the Cowboys cheerleaders helped us get the No. 1 spot.

Wanna find unimportant things to root for with us? Refer your friends to Axios Dallas and get cool merch like stickers, totes, hats, T-shirts and more!

Missing monkeys latest in a string of strange events at Dallas Zoo

1 big thing: 🐒 Monkey business at the zoo

An emperor tamarin monkey, looking adorable

Texas has most Black migrants of any state

2. 👋 Texas draws Black residents

Illustration of the state of Texas lit by red, green and yellow lights.

3. 🤔 Cowboys have some hard decisions to make 

Tony Pollard being tackled in a way that injured his lower left leg

Illustration of a cow with a spot on its forehead in the shape of the Axios logo.

Plan your future

5. 🤠 One timely museum exhibit to go

A museum exhibit about Black cowboys and ranchers

Happy Wednesday! Surviving is finding meaning where it's not obvious.

🥶 Today's weather: Freezing rain continues. High of 32. 

🧊 Situational awareness: Many school districts, including Dallas ISD, will be closed today due to continuing icy road conditions. 

A winter storm warning has been extended until 6am Thursday.

Today's newsletter is 913 uncompromised words — a 3.5-minute read.

This newsletter was edited by Lindsey Erdody and copy edited by Yasmeen Altaji and David Chiu.

🐻 Mike is prepared to watch "Cocaine Bear" the day it comes out.

👏 Tasha is reading about "thundersleet" to understand what's happening outside. 

🤗 Naheed is ready for "Love Is Blind: After the Altar" and hopes it will explain what happened to Raven and SK.

Wanna be part-time zoo detectives with us? Become a Dallas member for as little as $50 a year and get exclusive newsletters and access to members-only events!

AT&T criticized after dropping Newsmax

1 big thing: AT&T blasted for dropping Newsmax

The AT&T headquarters building in Dallas, covered with fog

Winter weather threatens Dallas road conditions

2. ❄️ The weather outside is frightful 

Illustration of a caution sign with a snowflake instead of a circle in the exclamation point.

3. 🎺 Spotlight on competitive high school mariachi

Illustration of the Deep Ellum neon sign, which says "Burnt Ends" and "Axios" instead of "Deep Ellum" and "Texas."

Take your career to the next level

5. 💬 Quote du jour: Mayor's Philly love

A tweet from the mayor of Dallas complimenting Philadelphia

6. 🌮 One taco to go: Nuno's

Three big tacos with a light creme sauce, beans and rice

Happy Tuesday! Protect your strange affinities.

🧊 Today's weather: More of the same — wet and borderline freezing all day.

🙏 Gracias: Special thanks to our members. Join the fun for as little as $50 a year.

🏠 Situational awareness: Today is the last day to pay your property taxes and avoid late fees.

Today's newsletter is 941 slammed words — a 3.5-minute read.

🤭 Mike is watching this "SNL" sendup of Southwest Airlines.

🏈 Tasha loves how so many things are a little connected to Dallas. 

🏘️ Naheed is reading the story that inspired Netflix's "The Watcher."

Like buying yourself flowers … to eat? Refer your friends to Axios Dallas and get cool merch like stickers, totes, hats, T-shirts and more!

1 big thing: Local vet gets 5 years for Capitol riot

Thousands of people rioting at the U.S. capitol

Swanky suburban lagoons are coming to North Texas

2. 🏖️ Swanky suburban lagoons coming soon

A rendering of a community built around a fake lagoon

3. 😎 Axios Dallas weekender

Illustration of a cherry pie with "weekend" cut out of the crust. 

Illustration of a pattern of bluebonnets.

New jobs to check out

5. 🧵 One cocktail to go: Upstairs Circus 

A sugary brown mocktail, surrounded by paints and crafting materials

Happy Friday! Moments are short. Life is long. Act accordingly.

☀️ Today's weather: The sun returns. High of 47°.

🎵 Sounds like: "Islands in the Stream"

🔮 Situational awareness: Punxsutawney Phil has spoken — well, maybe not "spoken" exactly, but communicated the way a groundhog communicates — and, alas, six more weeks of winter await us.

You can read about Phil's prognosticating track record here. (Spoiler alert: He's good.)

Today's newsletter is 921 luxuriating words — a 3.5-minute read.

❄️ Mike is reading this very weather-appropriate short Irish novel.

🎾 Tasha is learning about the players at the Dallas Open. 

💸 Naheed is learning why Texas property taxes are so high in comparison to other states.

Like wading through the news with us? Become a Dallas member for as little as $50 a year and get exclusive newsletters and access to members-only events!

Who needs Hurricane Harbor or Schlitterbahn when you have … the suburbs.

North Texas is on the precipice of a lagoon bonanza.

Driving the news: Dallas-based Megatel Homes will break ground on the AnaCapri community — a subdivision built around an ersatz lagoon — within weeks, a Megatel representative told Anna City Council last week.

The big picture: In an effort to attract more residents to the already booming suburbs, Megatel is also building — or planning to build — lagoon-centered communities in Forney, Prosper and Weston.

There's also a lagoon community in the works in West Dallas.

An illustration of a swanky looking fake lagoon

Let's go surfin' now ... in Anna. Illustration: Courtesy of Megatel Homes

Zoom out: Megatel has 12 lagoon communities in the works right now — in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Florida — according to the company's website.

Between the lines: These projects were initiated before the housing market started cooling, but construction hasn't slowed and Texas is still seeing plenty of migration from other states and more real estate investment than almost anywhere else.

Zoom in: The AnaCapri development will have more than 1,200 single-family homes and 600 beach-themed apartments surrounding the lagoon, per the DMN. House prices start at $435,000.

The lagoon will occupy a little more than 2 acres and will include several waterslides and a surf machine.

The surrounding community will offer restaurants, at least one bar, an arcade, a bowling alley, a fitness center and a yoga studio.

Megatel told Anna leaders that the lagoon could open for kayaking and paddleboarding by the end of the year, and should be fully staffed and operational by summer 2024. 

What they're saying: "A lot of people have interest because it has entertainment for families, something Anna really doesn't have right now," Joey Grisham, director of the Anna Economic Development Corp., told the DMN. "We're ready to get it going."

What we're watching: It'll be interesting to see how these lagoon-y communities age, especially if the housing market has any steep drops.

Beachfront property in ... Anna. Illustration: Courtesy of Megatel Homes

Who needs Hurricane Harbor or Schlitterbahn when you have … the suburbs.<ul><li>North Texas is on the precipice of a lagoon bonanza.</li></ul>

Real Estate

Two emperor tamarin monkeys that had gone missing from the Dallas Zoo earlier this week were found Tuesday in the closet of an empty home in Lancaster, a suburb south of Dallas, according to a Dallas Police spokesperson.

The latest: Dallas Police say they received a tip that the monkeys may be at an abandoned home in Lancaster.

Authorities are still asking for the public's help in identifying an individual in surveillance video.

 The person can be seen walking slowly down a nearly empty zoo pathway, looking around as he moves.

"It was clear the habitat had been intentionally compromised," a zoo spokesperson tells Axios.

The big picture: This is the latest in a string of strange incidents at the zoo over the last month. 

Two weeks ago, Nova, a clouded leopard, escaped the leopard enclosure through a cut in the mesh. Police have opened a criminal investigation, assisted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the cut was "intentional."

The zoo found a similar cut at the langur monkeys' enclosure — though none of the monkeys left the exhibit.

Last week, Pin, an endangered lappet-faced vulture, was found dead with what police called "an unusual wound."

Zoom in: Emperor tamarin monkeys would likely stay close to home if they left on their own, according to the zoo. Employees searched near their habitat and across the zoo's 110-acre property but didn't locate them.

Dallas is under a winter weather watch, per the National Weather Service.

Emperor tamarins are native to the southwest Amazon basin and not used to these temperatures.

Of note: The zoo has increased security efforts, including doubling the number of overnight security guards and adding cameras borrowed from Dallas police.

Flashback: Other zoos have experienced thefts recently, too. 

Twelve squirrel monkeys were reportedly stolen from a zoo in Louisiana over the weekend. 

Late last year, two Galápagos tortoises were stolen from a zoo in Florida.

And last summer, a macaw stolen from a zoo in New Mexico was found dead.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the two emperor tamarin monkeys have been found.

"It was clear the habitat had been intentionally compromised."

One of the emperor tamarins at the Dallas Zoo. Photo: Courtesy of Dallas Zoo

Animals

Two emperor tamarin monkeys that had gone missing from the Dallas Zoo earlier this week were found Tuesday in the closet of an empty home in Lancaster, a suburb south of Dallas, according to a Dallas Police spokesperson.

News

A series of recent incidents — including an escaped leopard, two torn enclosures and the suspicious death of a vulture — have raised security concerns at the Dallas Zoo.

The latest: The zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information about the death of Pin, an endangered lappet-faced vulture that was found dead Saturday morning. 

Zoo officials said Pin had "an unusual wound" and the death is "very suspicious."

The big picture: The vulture's death occurred just days after Nova, a clouded leopard, escaped its enclosure. Nova was eventually found onsite but not before inspiring copious social media reactions. 

The zoo said Nova escaped through a cut in the mesh surrounding the leopard habitat. Police have opened a criminal investigation, assisted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, noting that the cut was "intentional."

What's happening: The zoo has increased security efforts across the 110-acre campus, including doubling the number of overnight security guards and adding cameras borrowed from Dallas police to the 100-plus cameras already on zoo grounds, Dallas Zoo CEO Gregg Hudson said at a press conference this week.

The zoo has also limited some animals' ability to go outdoors overnight. 

Flashback: Three giraffes at the Dallas Zoo died in the span of a month in 2021.

Details: Pin was at least 35 years old and lived at the zoo for 33 years. The vulture, one of four at the Dallas Zoo, sired 11 offspring. Those birds now live at other zoos, including the Cincinnati Zoo and Zoo Atlanta.

Pin's first grandbird hatched in 2020 and now lives at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, per zoo officials.

Only about 6,500 members of the species are left in the world.

The Dallas Zoo helps manage the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' species survival plan for lappet-faced vultures.

What they're saying: "Pin was a beloved member of the bird department," Harrison Edell, Dallas Zoo's executive vice president for animal care and conservation, told reporters. 

"Deaths are always difficult. But this is especially challenging. There's a good chance lappet-faced vultures could move to critically endangered or even go extinct in our lifetime," Edell said. 

Escaped leopard, dead vulture raise concerns at the Dallas Zoo

The zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information about the death of Pin.

Pin, the lappet-faced vulture. Photo: Courtesy of Dallas Zoo

A series of recent incidents — including an escaped leopard, two torn enclosures and the suspicious death of a vulture — have raised security concerns at the Dallas Zoo.The latest: The zoo is offering a $10,000 reward for information about the death of Pin, an endangered lappet-faced vulture that was found dead Saturday morning.

Former President Donald Trump and several other prominent conservatives are criticizing Dallas-based AT&T, which jointly owns satellite company DirecTV, for dropping right-wing cable channel Newsmax.

What happened: DirecTV removed Newsmax from its lineup last Tuesday night. DirecTV said it wanted to keep Newsmax on its list of provided channels but couldn't because of Newsmax's increasing fees. 

Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said the decision is "a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship."

Why it matters: Dozens of Republican lawmakers signed a letter to AT&T and DirecTV executives, alleging that the move to remove the channel amounted to liberal censorship of conservative media.

On Thursday, Trump called the decision "​​a big blow to the Republican Party, and to America itself," and said the "Radical Left seems to have taken over the mind and soul of AT&T."

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado and the House Freedom Caucus' communications chair, suggested the House Oversight Committee should investigate AT&T. 

Flashback: There were similar outcries last year, when DirecTV removed conservative news network OANN.

By the numbers: DirecTV has 13 million subscribers, per CNN.

Newsmax pulled in an average of fewer than 150,000 total daily viewers in 2022, per The Hill.

For comparison, a daily average of 1.4 million people watched Fox News, 733,000 watched MSNBC and 568,000 watched CNN.

The intrigue: AT&T, the world's largest communications company, has quietly become a powerful player in conservative politics. In 2021, the company was criticized by progressives for contributing to the conservative politicians who passed Texas' abortion ban.

The other side: Rob Thun, DirecTV's chief content officer, said in a press release that the company "values different viewpoints and perspectives and will always work to preserve expansive choice among a wide variety of entertainment and information services."

DirecTV recently added another conservative network, The First, to its services.

Reality check: Newsmax is still available to stream on YouTube, Roku and the network's own website.

DirecTV removed Newsmax from its lineup Tuesday night. AT&T jointly owns the satellite company.

AT&T's headquarters in Dallas. Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump and several other prominent conservatives are criticizing Dallas-based AT&amp;T, which jointly owns satellite company DirecTV, for dropping right-wing cable channel Newsmax.What happened: DirecTV removed Newsmax from its lineup last Tuesday night. DirecTV said it wanted to keep Newsmax on its list of provided channels but couldn&#x27;t because of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Newsmax&#x27;s increasing fees" data-vars-click-url="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-demands-directv-drop-cnn-msnbc-after-newsmax-removal-truth-social-1776957" data-vars-content-id="d40c3860-6f43-4910-856a-9d43ef935608" data-vars-headline="AT&amp;T criticized after dropping Newsmax" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-demands-directv-drop-cnn-msnbc-after-newsmax-removal-truth-social-1776957" target="_blank">Newsmax&#x27;s increasing fees</a>.

A coalition of sports betting platforms has joined forces with pro sports teams across the state in an effort to legalize mobile sports betting in Texas.

Driving the news: The Sports Betting Alliance, which includes FanDuel, DraftKings and the state's NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and baseball franchises, hopes to have a sports-betting bill filed in the legislature soon, a spokesperson tells Axios.

The group hopes to capitalize on the publicity generated by the upcoming Super Bowl — reminding Texans that they can't legally bet on the game unless they leave the state.

Flashback: Efforts to legalize sports betting in 2021 came up short. A bill received a House committee hearing but never got voted out — and never got a hearing in the Senate.

The big picture: The new effort is focusing on sports betting mobile apps, as opposed to brick-and-mortar sportsbooks. 

The state constitution restricts gambling, so even if a bill passes, it would require a statewide referendum in November.

A new poll from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs found that 75% of Texans support legalizing more gambling.

The other side: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, has made it clear that he opposes sports betting in Texas.

State of play: Current Texas law allows for a lottery, charitable bingo, parimutuel betting on horse and dog racing, and gambling at three tribe-owned casinos — in Eagle Pass, El Paso and Livingston.

Poker rooms are also open across the state, though the legality is murky.

Context: Sports betting is legal in 36 states and Washington, D.C., according to the American Gaming Association.

The Houston bedding magnate known as "Mattress Mack" has made several large sports bets in the last few years, usually by going over the border to Louisiana. 

Between the lines: Lobbyists pushing the legalization effort stress that this year's bill will include third-party identity verification similar to that used in online loan applications. 

The alliance has also pointed out that Texans are already betting illicitly on sports. Legalizing sports betting would simply move the industry out of the shadows and allow officials to regulate and tax it.

"This is not an expansion of gambling," former Gov. Rick Perry, who's been hired as a spokesperson for the alliance, recently told the Texas Tribune. "It's going on, it's gonna continue to go on and the state of Texas needs to regulate it and make sure that its citizens' information is protected."

What they're saying: "Texas has the opportunity to be a leader in the legal mobile sports betting landscape and the time is now to combat the illegal offshore market, protect consumers, and generate revenue without raising taxes on Texans," alliance spokesperson Cara Gustafson tells Axios.

A push to legalize sports betting in 2021 came up short.

A coalition of sports betting platforms has joined forces with pro sports teams across the state in an effort to legalize mobile sports betting in Texas.Driving the news: The <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Sports Betting Alliance" data-vars-click-url="https://sportsbettingalliance.org/texas/" data-vars-content-id="f55c664e-9c9d-4311-914a-09d320f54eb3" data-vars-headline="A look at the effort to legalize sports betting in Texas" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://sportsbettingalliance.org/texas/" target="_blank">Sports Betting Alliance</a>, which includes FanDuel, DraftKings and the state&#x27;s NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and baseball franchises, hopes to have a sports-betting bill filed in the legislature soon, a spokesperson tells Axios.

Michael Mooney

Stories

Swanky suburban lagoons are coming to North Texas

A look at the effort to legalize sports betting in Texas

Missing monkeys latest in a string of strange events at Dallas Zoo

AT&T criticized after dropping Newsmax

Escaped leopard, dead vulture raise concerns at the Dallas Zoo

Newsletter editions

🏖️ Swanky suburban lagoons

💰 Wanna bet (legally)?

🐒 Monkey business

👀 AT&T's conservative blowback

💋 We're sexy