Cheaper Booze

This is the likely result from allowing more efficient retailers into Texas. A Texas law has prohibited publicly traded firms from selling liquor.

Walmart sued to challenge that rule, and on Wednesday a federal district judge sided with the retail giant. 

The law was specifically written as a barrier to entry to protect mom & pop stores.

The law was created in the early 1990s when the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, or TABC, lost a lawsuit from an out-of-state package store liquor license applicant. The rule forbids publicly traded businesses from selling alcohol to protect family-owned companies.

So, since the legislature could not prohibit only out-of-staters, they simply prohibited all publicly held firms. Naked protectionism.