Casino titan Sheldon Adelson’s lobbying budget is sparking hopes that Texas may finally relent and allow swanky gaming parlors in some of its major cities.

On Tuesday, Austin’s NBC affiliate KXAN reported that Las Vegas Sands chairman Adelson had hired eight high-profile lobbyists ahead of the new legislative session that gets underway in January. The report also noted that Adelson had poured $4.5m into state House races in 2020.

As for what issues may lie closest to Adelson’s heart, authorizing casinos would seem to be the most obvious answer. And with the state staring into a $4.6b pandemic-aided budget hole, discussion of alternative revenue sources will loom large on the legislative agenda.

Texas has no commercial casinos, just a couple of small tribal operations and some dodgy casino ‘cruises to nowhere’ that leave from ports like Galveston. Legislators routinely introduce casinos bills that don’t go anywhere and even state racetracks’ attempts to add ‘historical racing’ pseudo-slots have been smacked down hard.