The Problem With James Talarico’s Gambling Ties
Democratic Texas state representative James Talarico is winning Christian voters with his faith-driven progressivism. But some are alarmed about his support for expanding legal gambling — and campaign funding from a megadonor tied to casinos.
While James Talarico has been a rising star in progressive circles, his support for expanding legal gambling has alarmed advocates who see it as irreconcilable with his stated values. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
For years, Democrats have been flummoxed by organized religion. The party has long stood for the separation of church and state. But when it comes time to court religious voters by speaking to their values, they often fall flat on their face. The GOP consistently wins the lion’s share of religious voters.
Texas Democratic state representative James Talarico, a leading candidate for the party’s nomination for US Senate, is trying to change that. The grandson of a Baptist preacher and a Presbyterian seminarian himself, Talarico is an effective communicator who is able to capably explain how his Christian faith guides him to embrace progressive values.
During a lengthy interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, for example, Talarico defended his support for abortion rights by pointing to the example of Mary, Jesus’s mother.
“Before God comes over Mary and we have the incarnation, God asks for Mary’s consent — which is remarkable,” he told Rogan over the summer, adding that even the Bible supports reproductive freedom.
On issue after issue, Talarico has skillfully turned to scripture to defend a progressive worldview.
“We have politicians who have ‘Christ follower’ in their Twitter bios, but they are kicking the sick off their health care,” he said during an interview about the current congressional fight over health care access.
But there is one issue where Talarico’s positions are discordant with many other Christians, progressive or conservative.
As Politico reported back in August, Talarico has received tens of thousands of dollars from a political action committee (PAC) backed by GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson. Although Adelson is perhaps best known for her Israel advocacy, her and her late husband’s wealth is tied up in casinos.
And it was the Texas Sands PAC, which is working hard to expand legal gambling in Texas, that gave Talarico $59,000 from February through December of 2024. That made the PAC Talarico’s largest financial supporter during his time in the legislature last year.
The likely reason why they are backing him is that Talarico is an ardent supporter of legalizing casino gambling in Texas. He voted in favor of a bill that would’ve put the question to Texas voters through a constitutional amendment.
While Talarico has been a rising star in progressive circles, his support for expanding legal gambling has alarmed advocates who see it as irreconcilable with his stated values.
“The one word that comes to mind to describe his position would be hypocrisy,” said Les Bernal, the executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling, a national group that advocates against legal gambling. “If he [is] studying the Gospel, he must have missed the reading where Jesus says ‘Love others like I love you.’ Because casino gambling especially is a prime example of loving yourself more than your neighbor because it’s a business based on greed, manipulation, and exploitation.”
Betting Against the Needy
Indeed, there has long been a tradition of Christian opposition to legal gambling. While the Bible does not explicitly ban gambling, it speaks in harsh tones about the exploitation of the poor. The conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, for instance, notes that poor people disproportionately participate in legal gambling schemes like state lotteries; it goes on to cite Proverbs 14:31, which reads “whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
Across religious denominations and political leanings, religious organizations have fought hard against the expansion of legal gambling from coast to coast. In Minnesota, for instance, a coalition including everyone from the Minnesota Council of Churches to the Muslim American Society of Minnesota to several synagogues and rabbis worked together to lobby Democratic governor Tim Walz against supporting the legalization of online sports gambling.
Their message was unambiguous. They wrote:
Our faith traditions — Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, and others — have varying beliefs about gambling. Some believe that all gambling is morally evil and should be banned. Others believe that some forms of gambling in moderation may be legitimate forms of entertainment (bingo) or used for charitable purposes (raffles, pull tabs). But all of us see the current dangers of sports betting, especially online, and urge you not to expand gaming further.
I asked Talarico’s campaign about the contradiction between his faith and progressive beliefs and his support for the expansion of legal gambling.
In response, they dodged the issue of faith altogether, offering a more secular justification.
“Rep. Talarico supports adults making their own choices — if they’re going to gamble, he wants to see that money stay here to support better infrastructure, schools, and jobs,” spokesperson JT Ennis replied. “The vast majority of Texans agree.”
In Texas, faith activists sounded the alarm about Talarico’s support for expanding legal gambling.
John Litzler, who serves as director for public policy at the Christian Life Commission and general counsel for Texas Baptists, said he has worked closely with Talarico’s office on matters on which they agree. But on expanding legal gambling, they are at odds.
“One of the reasons we don’t see it the same way is because Scripture tells us to care for those who are the most vulnerable among us, not to exploit the poor,” he said. “And we think that’s something the gambling industry does.”
Jonathan Covey, the director of policy at the religious nonprofit Texas Values, was even harsher, pointing to Talarico’s anti-billionaire rhetoric (he said this summer that “billionaires want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them”).
“You want to go around talking about the influence of billionaire megadonors in Texas politics but then sort of behind the scenes and behind your back you’re accepting these [Sands PAC] donations?” he told me. “That’s a real hypocritical frame of view.”
Battle for the Soul of Texas
It’s not clear how Texas voters will interpret Talarico’s unvarnished support for legal gambling, but it’s worth pointing out that the intensely religious Deep South and Texas remain one of the last bastions of opposition to sports betting; legislatures in those states so far have not legalized the most expansive forms of online sports gambling.
Although sports betting has slowly been legalized in most states, emerging evidence shows its heavy cost: it is driving everything from intimate partner violence to lower credit scores and higher bankruptcies.
These concerns have driven progressives and religious conservatives alike to lock arms and help defeat sports betting in states like the aforementioned Minnesota.
But for people of faith, which Talarico so strongly identifies with, the issue is often personal.
“Churches are on the front line of dealing with a lot of the hurt and harm that comes from legalized gambling,” Litzler said. “So we’ll have recovery groups and addiction groups . . . people of faith are the ones who are opening up women’s shelters and domestic violence shelters. Usually they’re the ones who have benevolence programs, so if you can’t pay your utility bill . . . all of these things are problems that come from gambling addiction.”
In a recent campaign speech, Talarico assailed the power of America’s billionaire class, noting that Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos “own more wealth than 165 million Americans combined” and that they “own politicians in both parties.”
For Bernal, the anti-gambling legalization advocate, Talarico’s bromides against billionaires ring hollow as long as he continues to do the work of the Adelsons and casino kingpins.
“How a government taxes its citizens is a declaration of a country’s values, and the institution of predatory gambling has proven itself to be a cruel and oppressive system, except to the willfully ignorant and those seeking to climb the political ladder on the backs of others,” he said.