Texas sports betting in 2026: what Cowboys fans can use

Is sports betting legal in Texas? No. As of Nov. 6, 2026, the state licenses no sportsbook app and no retail sportsbook, and the law cannot change before the Legislature returns in January. What a Cowboys fan in Texas can use is a prediction market, a federally regulated exchange, and even those are under study at the Capitol. Here is where things stand.

Why there is no sportsbook

Betting on the result of a game is a misdemeanor under Chapter 47 of the Texas Penal Code. Making it legal is harder in Texas than in most states: a new form of gambling needs a constitutional amendment, which takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate and then a statewide vote. The Legislature meets in regular session only in odd-numbered years, and the 2025 session ended without sending voters a sports betting amendment.

The obstacle has mostly been the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick controls which bills reach the floor and has opposed expanding gambling. The 90th Legislature convenes on Jan. 12, 2027. Even if an amendment passed then, voters could not weigh in until November 2027 at the earliest, so a licensed Texas sportsbook is at least two football seasons away.

The prediction-market question

Prediction markets reached Texas through federal law. Exchanges such as Novig, Kalshi and Polymarket US are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and they list sports contracts as event contracts, outside the state's gambling code. On March 27, Patrick issued interim charges telling the Senate State Affairs Committee to study the "sudden inundation" of prediction market gambling and recommend how to protect the integrity of Texas elections and Texas sports, The Texas Tribune reported.

The committee took testimony in September. The American Gaming Association, which represents the casino and sportsbook industry, argued that a sports event contract is gambling and belongs under state oversight; Kalshi's head of enforcement answered that its contracts are derivatives already regulated by the CFTC, GamblingNews reported. Nothing has changed in law. Texas has not sued Kalshi, Polymarket or Novig, and no court has ordered any of them out of the state; the CBS Sports state-by-state tracker lists Texas as live as of Friday, with recommendations expected for the 2027 session. That is the item to watch: a bill aimed at prediction markets could be filed as soon as the session opens.

What a Cowboys fan can use today

Novig is a CFTC-regulated exchange where you take a position on a game at a price set by other traders, not by a house. It is live in 47 states, every state except Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, so a fan who follows the Cowboys on the road keeps access everywhere on this season's schedule. Pre-game straight trades on Novig pay no fee; a live taker trade pays 0.06 × price × (1 − price) per contract.

Every Cowboys game is priced on the board, Novig first, alongside the sportsbooks and the other exchanges. The sportsbook rows are for comparison: no book can take a customer standing in Texas. The Texas page prices this week's game only at the venues a fan in the state can open, and it carries the date we last checked the law. Prediction markets vs sportsbooks explains how the two kinds of venue reach a price, and how to read the Cowboys board works through the numbers.

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