Texas Threatens To Shut Down Racing Over HISA

[Al Gobbi]

Texas Racing Commission assails HISA's hegemony - signal will be cut July 1

https://www.horseracing.net/us/news/...-hisa-hegemony

[Bustin Stones]

In the long run, can any track survive without interstate wagering? As much as this seems like giving HISA the finger, it's open ended. Nothing prevents Texas from joining in 2 years and finding some bs reason for a reversal.

[biggestal99]

Originally Posted by Bustin Stones

In the long run, can any track survive without interstate wagering? As much as this seems like giving HISA the finger, it's open ended. Nothing prevents Texas from joining in 2 years and finding some bs reason for a reversal.

track handle for LS on saturday was 361,000

wont be able to last long on that handle.

Allan

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Bustin Stones

In the long run, can any track survive without interstate wagering? As much as this seems like giving HISA the finger, it's open ended. Nothing prevents Texas from joining in 2 years and finding some bs reason for a reversal.

And importantly, this is the point. In the days when there was very little betting that crossed state lines, you could make a case for local regulations. But modern horse racing is national and few tracks could survive without all that interstate revenue. That's exactly what justifies a uniform national system.

[Al Gobbi]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

And importantly, this is the point. In the days when there was very little betting that crossed state lines, you could make a case for local regulations. But modern horse racing is national and few tracks could survive without all that interstate revenue. That's exactly what justifies a uniform national system.

could any track survive without out of state betting in 2022?

[Dave Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Bustin Stones

In the long run, can any track survive without interstate wagering? As much as this seems like giving HISA the finger, it's open ended. Nothing prevents Texas from joining in 2 years and finding some bs reason for a reversal.

100%.

Okay, maybe 99.8%, but close enough.
Exception: If you can get enough patrons to the track you also have the amenities to sell them which is high-profit.

But for most of us, we're just not going to the track 3+ days a week.

What do you think, Stoney?

[Andy Asaro]

Twitter

[Tom]

What did Texas bettors do to piss off these idiots?

As usual, the bettors come last.

[AlsoEligible]

“I don’t understand why everyone wants uniformity; who wants uniformity?” Asmussen said. “People in Louisiana don’t understand New York, and they don’t understand Texas, and they don’t understand California.

“The same goes with owning and training horses. We’re in a competitive sport but no one wants to compete. Everyone’s always questioning. Why’d you do it this way or why’d you go to that race? If we all did things the same, there’d be no sport.”

Incredible how so many other sports have entities competing from different parts of the country under the same rules, yet manage to stay viable and popular.

And importantly, this is the point. In the days when there was very little betting that crossed state lines, you could make a case for local regulations. But modern horse racing is national and few tracks could survive without all that interstate revenue. That's exactly what justifies a uniform national system.

Without venturing too far into politics, not surprising that Texas of all places is the one to throw the biggest tantrum about federal oversight. But while HISA won't be perfect and will have it's own issues, it's a needed step in the right direction.

Nothing prevents Texas from joining in 2 years and finding some bs reason for a reversal.

Well, if Texas racing can survive two years with just on-track handle. Which I guess we'll find out, because HISA is going to call their bluff.

[classhandicapper]

One difference between other sports and racing is that sports teams are part of a league. They operate on their own to some extent, but they mostly compete at the sport (for players) and not against each other as businesses. They are all part of the NBA, MLB, NHL etc... and have a common interest in each other's success. The Lakers are not trying to put the Celtics out of business, just beat them at basketball.

There is no horse racing league.

Each track is competing against the others not only for trainers and horses, but for a piece of the national handle. IF CD and OP steal market share from other tracks, that's the other tracks' problem. So some of them may want more independence to create rules they believe will make their product better than other tracks and win market share for horses and handle. They don't want a national body telling them what to do.

I think it's pretty obvious that there are problems and some national standards would help the sport in some ways, but imo don't be shocked if in 10-15 years everyone is whining that things are getting overregulated, too expensive, too time consuming and complicated to do everything etc..

[classhandicapper]

It will be interesting to see if Texas stop taking bets on tracks outside the state, if Texans that were betting outside the state bet more on Texas races.

[Tom]

"Who wants uniformity?"

What rock did this Eintstien just crawl out from under???

Nitwit.

[garyscpa]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

It will be interesting to see if Texas stop taking bets on tracks outside the state, if Texans that were betting outside the state bet more on Texas races.

I haven't bet a Texas race in at least five years.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

One difference between other sports and racing is that sports teams are part of a league. They operate on their own to some extent, but they mostly compete at the sport (for players) and not against each other as businesses. They are all part of the NBA, MLB, NHL etc... and have a common interest in each other's success. The Lakers are not trying to put the Celtics out of business, just beat them at basketball.

This is right, but the leagues make explicit what is implicit.

Let's compare golf. There's no necessity of a league in professional golf. You can certainly conceive of a world where there's just a bunch of independent golf tournaments around the country that compete for the best golfers. But the problem is, that's not really in anyone's interests. Something like the PGA Tour was an inevitability- you can create a common set of rules, a schedule of events, and an incentive for golfers to play in all the tournaments. It just works better- and it recognizes that golf is a national sport, not just a local one.

What happened with racing is that it developed state-by-state because it was tied to state legalization of gambling, so it ended up being regulated by a bunch of state regulators with little uniformity or central authority. But that's NOT the way of most sports. Indeed, the only other major sport that really works this way is boxing, and that's for much the same reason- because each state had to separately legalize and regulate prize-fighting.

It's a historical accident, not in any way a superior way to run a sport.

[ranchwest]

What is going to be interesting is what the Chickasaw Nation has to say about this... and we may find out the extent of their stroke and whether they have privilege with the Feds.