AUSTIN -- Racing industry officials told Texas lawmakers Wednesday they want slot machines legalized at horse and dog tracks to revive the state's struggling racing business.
Neighboring states like Louisiana have slots at tracks that draw more customers and build larger purses to pay race winners, and Texas is at a severe disadvantage by not allowing slots, said Andrea Young, president of Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, speaking for all the state's race tracks.
"Regional competition over the last decade has been a disastrous one-way street," Young said. "It is clear that Texas tracks are close to being pushed out of business."
Over the past 10 years, the amount wagered at Texas tracks has declined 50 percent and attendance has dropped 30 percent, said Young, speaking to the Legislative Study Group on behalf of Texans for Economic Development. The group wants passage of a constitutional amendment to allow slot machines at the state's 13 race tracks and three federally recognized Indian reservations.
Slots at tracks could generate about $1 billion per year for state government, Young said.
Leaders of Indian tribes and proponents of full-fledged casinos also spoke to the legislative group, a caucus of the Texas House that studies proposals and is examining gambling before the 2011 legislative session. The House licensing committee is taking up the subject of gambling next week.
All this discussion shows there may be more appetite than usual for casino gambling among lawmakers, especially with the state facing a potential $18 billion budget shortfall.
Casino gambling proposals that would have established Las Vegas-style casinos, slot machines at race tracks and casinos on American Indian reservations failed in the 2009 Texas Legislature.
Consultant Rob Kohler with the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission said gambling preys on the poor and doesn't help local economies as much as other types of spending. Kohler warned legislators against taking the attitude that gambling dollars are "free money" for the state. Placing casinos at racetracks in the heart of Texas metropolitan areas will boost gambling among people who aren't currently doing it and who don't have much discretionary income, Kohler said.
"This isn't about tourism," he said. "This is 98 percent of the revenue coming from the local market."
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