Quote:
Originally Posted by NTamm1215
They don’t have that mindset whatsoever. In fact, the Horse Industry Escrow Account was created in 2019 and has re-routed taxes and fees that previously went elsewhere to the racing industry. It has enabled TX tracks to double purses and handle at both LS and SHRP is up substantially from 2019 to present day.
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That was done after Abbott & Patrick appointed a commission that won't try to compete for the neighboring states casino money or attempt to open an ADW system.
Here's and old article about what went on and what is still going on in Texas horse racing.
https://www.espn.com/horse-racing/st...-even-mess-big
Excerpt,
"About a month after Dan Patrick was elected Lt. Gov. of Texas last year, Tilman Fertitta opened his Golden Nugget hotel and casino in Lake Charles, La. Fertitta had donated $50,000 to Patrick. Fertitta has donated another $100,000 this year, according to Follow The Money. Located about two hours from Houston, the Golden Nugget is brimful of 1,600 slot machines, 60 gaming tables and eager-to-bet Texans. If the Golden Nugget is anything like the the other casinos that have sprung up like mushrooms just across the border, most of its customers are Texans. And how many of those Texans would drive to Lake Charles if instead they could find similar entertainment at Sam Houston Racetrack? That's a question the Golden Nugget probably hopes will never be asked.
Patrick, who presides over the state Senate, also received $125,000 from the Kickapoo Indians, who operate a casino in Eagle Pass, near the border with Mexico. Last October, when the legislature was trying to figure out just how it would respond to a Texas Racing Commission that had made an unprecedented move of actually attempting to take some positive steps on behalf of the sport by approving rules regulating historical racing devices, the Kickapoos made large donations, according to the San Antonio Express-News, to several Texas Senators, including $10,000 to Joan Huffman of Houston, the GOP Caucus chairwoman, and $10,000 to Jane Nelson of Flower Mound, the Senate budget writer. Huffman also received $27,523 from Fertitta. In addition, she and Nelson received $10,000 from the Chocktaw Nation, which operates casinos in Oklahoma. And so it goes in Texas."