Persuasive Speech Outline
Legalizing Casino Gambling in Texas
Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my class about why legalizing casino gambling in Texas is for the better. Thesis Statement: Legalizing casino gambling in the state of Texas would enhance society and will be beneficial for the entire state. Organizational Pattern: Problem-Solution
Introduction
I. Did you know that gambling generates more revenue than movies, spectator sports, theme parks, cruise ships and recorded music combined (“Statistics gambling facts,”)? II. Regardless of your opinion of gambling, the legalization of casino gambling is important because of all the benefits it will bring for the citizens of Texas. III. Jim Pitts, Texas House Appropriations Chairman, said that legalized casinos in Texas could bring in one billion dollars in the first two years and about four billion dollars each subsequent year (Stutz, 2010). IV. Legalizing casino gambling in the state of Texas would enhance society and will be beneficial for the entire state. V. First, the state of Texas loses much needed revenue to other states. Second, legalized gambling would ensure the underworld would not be in power. Third, we will discuss what you can do to aid in legalizing casino gambling and solving the fore-mentioned problems. (To begin, we need to look at the current economic problems in Texas.)
Body
I. First of all, the Lone Star state would greatly be able to advance her economy if we legalized casino gambling.
A. Texas is losing billions of dollars in revenue that could be used to relieve society’s social and economic problems.
A.1. According to Politifact.com, Texas residents are spending an outrageous 2.5 billion dollars at casinos located in our border states, such as Louisiana and Oklahoma (“Texans spend $2.5,” 2011). A.1.a. Texas residents’ vacation at other states and spend money at the casinos, hotels, gas stations and restaurants. Why should we go to other states and spend money there when we should be spending it in our own state? A.1.b. If casinos were legal in Texas, tourists would visit Texas and spend money, which would enrich our economy. A.2. Legalizing casino gambling would create more jobs, thus lowering the unemployment rate. A.2.a. This would lead to people not relying on social welfare programs provided by the government. A.2.b. Therefore, it would alleviate the budget allocated to welfare, which means the state could spend that money on education and other much needed programs. B. Furthermore, Texas would be able to tax the casinos.
B.1. Legalizing gambling would let Texas collect tax revenue from casinos and those who profit from playing.
B.1.a. The government could tax the casinos higher because Texas charges extra for sin taxes.
B.1.b. People who gamble also have to pay a certain portion of their earnings to the federal government.
B.2. In addition, Texas could collect revenue from licenses the casino owners would need to possess in order to stay in business. (Next, we need to look at the how illegal gambling creates criminals, which hurts society.) II. The legalization of gambling would bring the underworld of illegal gambling to a rest.
A. When I lived in Brownsville, Texas, I recall hearing a news story about a large group of people getting arrested for illegal casino gambling like they have committed a heinous crime. (Vela, 2012) A.1. If casino gambling were legal numerous people would not be in jail for something that is legal in numerous states next to us. A.2. Also, legalizing casino gambling would give the power of regulating casinos to the state as opposed to unauthorized individuals.
B. Legalizing casino gambling would mean that less time and money is wasted searching for illegal gaming arenas. B.1. Police effort could be focused more on other serious criminal issues, like solving murder, rather than gambling. B.2. Legalizing casino gambling would keep so called criminals out of jail and lessen the number of people in the prison system. (There is hope for solving the problems that arise because gambling is illegal.) III. Third, there are solutions to help solve the problems that come from not legalizing casino gambling.
A. Residents of the state of Texas need to petition to their local representatives.
A.1. You can write or call your local representative and express how you think legalizing casinos will help reduce crime and increase revenue for the state.
A.2. Gather friends to contact their representatives because a large majority can have the issue placed on election ballots.
B. Once the issue is placed on the ballot, we need to vote for legalizing casinos.
B.1. People need to become informed of the positives of legalizing gambling
B.2. Finally, they should vote for legalizing.
(Legalizing casino gambling is the best for Texas.)
Conclusion
I. To review, Texas does not allow casino gambling.
A. Texas has lost billions of dollars in revenue to other states.
B. In addition, illegal gambling has given crime lords power of controlling gaming set up in illegal casinos.
C. Nevertheless, Texas can solve this issue by legalizing casino gambling.
II. Legalizing casino gambling in the state of Texas would enhance society and will be beneficial for the entire state. III. Since there are no casinos in Texas, I will be driving six hours to Louisiana. If gambling were legal I would not have to make such a long journey. So lets save ourselves the trouble of having to drive all the way to Louisiana and lets try to convince our state government to legalize casino gambling.
Reference List
Statistics gambling facts & stats. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gamble/etc/facts.html
Stutz, H. (2010, May 13). Texas legislator pushes legalized gaming as budget salve. Retrieved from http://www.lvrj.com/business/texas-legislator-pushes-legalized-gaming-as-budget-salve-93662924.html
Texans spend $2.5 billion gambling in our neighboring states every year. (2011, April 19). Retrieved from http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/apr/29/texans-economic-devel
