HOUSTON—If you like to gamble, you could soon skip the trip to Louisiana and just head an hour north on 59.

The Alabama Coushatta tribe of Texas is trying to reopen a casino there that the state ordered closed seven years ago.

For the tribe, it could mean millions of dollars a year and hundreds of jobs, but critics say it’s a gamble the state shouldn’t take.

The Alabama Coushatta’s big dreams sit in the now-silent Big Thicket. 

The reservation used to welcome 100,000 visitors every summer, offering “Big Thicket and Big Indian” tours. 

But then came the oil bust of the 80s.

The tourists stopped coming, and the tough times stuck around.

That is, until the tribe opened a casino for nine months in 2002.

The Alabama Coushatta believed they had a legal right to open the casino.

The courts disagreed and forced them to close.

“A million dollars a month is about what we were making here,” Bullock said.

Three-hundred people worked at the casino, and unemployment on the reservation fell from 30 percent to almost zero.

Those memories are why the tribe wants it all back.

“We know what the demand was when we were open. We didn’t do any advertising, but we had a line out the door to get in,” Bullock said.

Now, two tribes are betting that new leadership in the Texas House will be more sympathetic to the casino cause.

The new chairman of the Influential Licensing Committee, for one, is a fan.

“Oh yes, I voted for it last time. I’ve never had a problem with it at all,” said Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin.

Lawmakers came close to approving tribal gaming last session, but opponents are vowing to put up a big fight this time around.

“This can hurt you. This may not be fun for your personality. So the issue is, how much does it cost, and how much does this really hurt people,” Rob Kohler of the Baptist General Convention said.

The tribe believes not gambling is what does them harm.

The buildings that house its Head Start program are falling apart these days, and federal funding has fallen flat.

The reservation’s medical clinic is only open three days a week, and funding for that usually runs out before the year does.

For Bullock, reopening the casino is the best – and only – bet for reviving the tribe.

But will the state go all in?

“Not unlike other small communities in our state, times are hard, but we could argue that one, it would open the door to casino gaming everywhere, and it’s not economic development,” Kohler said.

“People are seeing $3 billion a year leaving the state, and these casinos are actually setting up right along the Texas border, so we think there is a great demand for gaming in Texas,” Bullock said.