Effort to legalize Texas casinos fails despite hard Vegas push

Backers of proposed legislation that would have enabled Texans to decide whether they wanted destination resorts with casino operations in the state’s largest cities have come away empty-handed.

Even help from one of the gaming industry’s biggest players wasn’t enough sway politicians in Austin.

House Joint Resolution 133 — which would have made possible the development of Vegas-style casino resorts in Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — was left pending in the Texas House Committee…