"Texans are no longer talking with tiny voices when advocating legalization of casino gambling. Now statesmen are abuzz with billion-dollar money-making reasons to set up the slot machines and card tables.

They're asking for casinos on not only the two Indian reservations, but at the race tracks -- and why not just go big and allow for the building of Las Vegas-type resort casinos? That's the cry now.

Tax money. Tourist dollars. High-end entertainment a la the Vegas Strip.

Since El Paso's Speaking Rock Casino was closed down by the state in 2002, it's been our local Tiguas and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe in East Texas calling for gaming restoration. Those were two small pockets in Texas -- in the far West and at the Big Thicket forest.

Now the opposition is the small voice. How a downturn in the economy can change minds."

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Editorial: Casino push: Big cash cow for Texas (The El Paso Times 4/10)