Texas Racing Commission to take up historical racing again

Brian M. Rosenthal / Houston Chronicle

The Texas Racing Commission has decided to discuss historical racing again next week, the third time the agency has weighed the controversial new form of betting that led to a temporary shut-down of the state’s horse racing industry last summer.

A repeal of the commission’s approval of the game — which currently is on hold pending a legal battle — is set for discussion at a regularly-scheduled meeting at 10:30 a.m. next Tuesday, according to an agenda provided to the Secretary of State.

A racing commission spokesman confirmed the agenda, but said the repeal was not guaranteed to come up for a vote at the meeting.

Still, the inclusion of the agenda item may signal that the commission will bend to pressure from the state’s Republican leaders, who view the game as an illegal gambling expansion, want its approval repealed and have threatened to withhold funding for the agency and the industry.

The commission in the summer of 2014 approved historical racing, a potential revenue generator which allows players to bet on previously-run races that have been stripped of identifying markings. A year later, facing the threat of losing funding, the commissioners surprisingly voted narrowly against repealing the game.

That led to a one-day shut down of the commission and, in turn, the industry, because state law prohibits horse racing without regulation from the agency. Lawmakers eventually provided funding, but only a temporary basis, and it is now scheduled to expire in February.

Adding to the intrigue of the latest vote is that it was not set by incumbent commission Chairman Robert Schmidt. Schmidt resigned as chairman this week, a spokesman confirmed, and is being replaced by Rolando Pablos, who recently was appointed to the commission by Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott has not expressed an opinion about historical racing, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a strong opponent and earlier this month called for the commission to hold another vote on repealing it.

Horse racing industry officials decried the inclusion of the discussion in the agenda.

“We welcome the new chair and commissioners to the Racing Commission and look forward to educating them about the hope historical racing could bring to our industry,” said Marsha Rountree, executive director of the Texas Horsemen’s Partnership. “We are disappointed that their first action will be to vote a third time on an issue the Senate didn’t vote on once.”