By T. D. Thornton
The Texas Racing Commission voted 5-4 at an emergency meeting on Thursday to repeal 2014 rules the agency had created to legalize slot-machine-styled “historical racing.”
The vote signals the end for the long-term plan to bolster Texas horse and greyhound purses with gaming revenue. But it is likely to trigger the more immediate release of day-to-day funding for the racing commission, whose budget had been withheld by Texas lawmakers, presumably as retaliation for the commission's circumventing of the legislature in establishing historical racing rules.
Historical racing, which involves betting on already-run horse races that have been stripped of identifying markers, had never actually been operational in Texas. The machines have bolstered purses at other Thoroughbred venues, like Oaklawn Park and Kentucky Downs.
The vote “was brought about because of extreme pressure placed on commissioners by a small handful of senate leaders with threats to shut down the agency if historical racing wasn't repealed,” Marsha Rountree, executive director of the Texas Horsemen's Partnership, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Real Texans will now suffer due to the continuing decline of the horse racing industry in Texas.”
The commission had previously deadlocked on votes to repeal historical racing, but the tie was broken on Thursday by an appointee of the Texas state comptroller, an ex-officio member of the commission who had previously abstained from voting on the issue.
“We're trying to find solutions here,” Commission Chairman Roland Pablos told the Dallas Observer. “We have the power to press the reset button, get together and find solutions that are not this controversial. Certainly I think we need to move forward. By repealing the rules we are helping the industry in the short term.” @thorntontd
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