Texas Racing Commission to prohibit out-of-state wagering starting July 1

The Texas Racing Commission will not allow Thoroughbred races from Texas tracks to be exported to out-of-state locations or account-wagering companies as of July 1, the commission said in a letter released earlier this week and confirmed by the commission’s executive director on Tuesday.

According to Amy Cook, the commission’s executive director, the commission believes that state laws requiring the commission to regulate parimutuel wagering in the state will be nullified when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, a national rule-making and enforcement body created by federal legislation, gains limited jurisdiction over racetracks and licensees across the United States as of the July 1 date.

The decision is a stark escalation of a dispute pitting the Texas commission against HISA. If the decision holds, Lone Star Park will presumably be unable to send its simulcast signal to any out-of-state betting locations or to account-wagering companies for the last three weeks of its current meet. Out-of-state simulcasting typically accounts for at least 80 percent of a racetrack’s wagering revenue.

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Lone Star Park officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the commission’s decision.

The Texas Racing Commission was a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that sought to invalidate the federal legislation creating HISA, but that suit was dismissed “with prejudice” by a judge in April. Lone Star Park’s parent company, Global Gaming, was a plaintiff in a nearly identical suit that was dismissed by a federal judge in Kentucky earlier this month.

The Texas commission has said that state laws require the commission to be involved in the regulation of all aspects of racing and wagering at Texas racetracks and that the advent of HISA’s authority will create a conflict with those requirements. Cook said that the commission’s position is supported by racing constituents in the state.

“Everyone wants the Texas Racing Commission to continue to be the regulatory body that is in charge, and we want that too,” Cook said Tuesday. “We’ll lose the simulcasting revenue, but we’ll gain certainty, which is priceless, in our minds.”

HISA officials met with the racing commission last week in an effort to iron out the dispute, but those discussions failed to resolve the issue.

HISA officials would not provide answers to direct questions related to the dispute and instead issued a statement saying its officials had been “negotiating in good faith” with the Texas commission.

“We hold out hope that we will still find a way to work together and chart a positive path forward for racing in Texas, so that Texas racing participants are not deprived of the benefits that come from interstate wagering on Texas races,” the statement said.

HISA was created by legislation passed late in 2020. Under the enabling legislation, the authority has the power to draft and enforce rules related to safety protocols, medication, and anti-doping programs.