Horse racing in Texas avoids shutdown
Funding extension called ‘disaster’ for the industry, causes uncertainty
Lawmakers agree to let the Racing Commission operate through February, averting a shutdown that could have closed tracks.
AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers agreed Friday to allow the state Racing Commission to operate through the end of February, averting a shutdown that could have forced racing tracks to close at the beginning of next month.
The agreement will provide temporary relief to tracks in Houston, San Antonio and Grand Prairie but also extends uncertainty because it will set the funding to expire in the heat of the most intense part of the racing season.
The Legislative Budget Board announced the decision just minutes after Gov. Greg Abbott made three appointments to the commission, a long-awaited move that some hope could end a standoff over the commission’s approval of “historical racing,” a form of betting in which players can wager on previously run races via terminals that resemble slot machines.
State Senate budget writer Jane Nelson, RFlower Mound, led a group of lawmakers who believe the commission’s approval illegally expanded gambling in the state and have pushed to punish the commission for it. Nelson said she hoped the new members and additional three months would allow for the agency to undo the approval.
“We are giving the agency the time it needs to chart a new course,” Nelson said in a statement. “Hopefully, with new commissioners we can start seeing this agency adhere to the Constitution, operate within
the law and recognize that the Legislature — not the Racing Commission — makes the law in Texas.”
It is not at all clear that Abbott’s picks will lead to a repeal of historical racing, however. One of the appointees, veterinarian Gary Aber of Simonton, is a current commission member who was re-appointed. Simonton had voted against a repeal motion in August. The other two are replacing one member who voted for repeal and one who voted against in the 4-3 vote. Business executives Margaret Martin of Boerne and Rolando Pablos of El Paso — a former Racing Commission chairman — have not indicated how they feel about the issue. Neither returned messages seeking comment Friday.
Abbott’s office also did not return a message seeking comment.
Jan Haynes, the president of an association of Texas horsemen and horsewomen, said the temporary funding extension was a “disaster” for the industry.
“It’s worse — we would be better off without it, because it just shows how unstable we are,” said Haynes, noting that the extension came on the heels of another three-month extension approved after a one-day shutdown of the racing tracks on Sept. 1. “They’re only willing to fund our industry for 90 days at a time?”
The commission’s funding comes entirely from race track proceeds, but because of state law, the Legislature must approve the money. The law also requires commission personnel to attend races, meaning that a lack of funding prevents the tracks from hosting races. There are three major horse racing tracks in the state: Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Retama Park in San Antonio and Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie.
Haynes said the thoroughbred live racing season begins in January and the breeding season begins in February, making a Feb. 29 cutoff especially problematic.
“Nobody is going to want to commit to bringing their horses down if they don’t know that there will be races,” she said.
The Houston Chronicle reported earlier this week that the Sam Houston Race Park had received far fewer applications from horse owners seeking to participate in the live racing season — 1,270, down from 1,979 last year and 1,649 before that, according to the track.
The low number of applications have alarmed horse racing supporters, said Marsha Rountree, executive director of the Texas Horsemen’s Partnership, which represents owners. “It’s a very real possibility that we’re going to be unable to fill some races.”