Video Slots Can Bail Out Troubled Tracks

By GREG MELIKOV, Contributing Writer

The future of horse racing depends on Las Vegas-type slot machines. While the fan base for thoroughbreds is dwindling, tracks where casino-style gambling is allowed are doing well.

The Sport of Kings after World War II lost out when fans embraced other sports such as pro baseball, football and basketball. Then lotteries blossomed around the country, siphoning dollars from tracks.

Enter casino gambling, thanks to flourishing Las Vegas, which has surpassed most vacation spots around the country.

What hurt racing until simulcasting emerged was that if you couldn't visit the track of your choice, you couldn't wager unless you went the bookie route. Now there's online wagering and betting by phone. Simulcasting rescued tracks fighting to survive.

Slot machines are picking up where simulcasting left off. A case in point, Louisiana tracks that have them are doing much better than Texas tracks that don't. That's because purses for racing climbs as revenue from video slots rolls in.

Texas lawmakers this year refused to act on a bill to allow a statewide vote that would allow slots at horse and dog tracks around the state. Proponents vow to continue the fight because they say the future of Texas racing is at stake.

But the road to slots in some states is not without potholes. For example, Gulfstream Park in South Florida looked like it would benefit when voters in Broward County approved a referendum.

However, the Florida Legislature adjourned in May after the House and Senate passed dramatically different bills. Those differences weren't reconciled and, to make matters worse, there are no plans for a special session this year.

This prompted Gulfstream, two dog tracks and a jai-alai fronton to sue the state in Broward to clarify if they are authorized to operate slot machines. Meanwhile, gambling opponents several days earlier in Tallahassee asked a trial judge to rule that the pari-mutuels cannot start offering slot machines without an enabling law from the Legislature.

The Broward referendum that passed in March required the Legislature to OK a bill by July 1. Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida's Native-American tribes, many of which operate casinos in the state, opposed the referendum.

Quite a few tracks have been resurrected because the machines attract gamblers and common folks.

A case in point: Louisiana tracks that have them are doing much better than Texas tracks that don't. In fact, other neighboring states such as Oklahoma and New Mexico are attracting Texas horse owners, trainers and jockeys as well as Lone Star State residents looking for action.

Since slots were introduced at New Mexico tracks in 1999, horse breeding operations have soared to record numbers, fueling big increases in employment and salaries in all areas of its racing industry.

On the other hand, Texas tracks continue to lose horsemen. Unless video slots are introduced, purses will decline and eventually, meetings might be cut back. No one knows how long some tracks can operate as attendance dwindles and wagering falls off.

Greg Melikov has been handicapping and writing about horses for decades. His articles and columns appear in print and on the Internet around the world. Greg is a retired newspaperman who became a racing fan at 13 when he saw 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation, his favorite horse, whip 20 older horses at old Arlington Park.