Sam Houston Race Park will start its 2025 Thoroughbred meet with purse cuts and fewer live race dates due to uncertainty about payments from a state incentive fund created to support the Texas horse industry.
Texas tracks have had their revenue streams constricted since February 2023 when the Texas Racing Commission took the position that the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has no legal standing to regulate horse racing in the state. By not recognizing HISA’s authority, racetracks are prohibited from participating in interstate simulcasting.
Without simulcasting revenue, tracks have been more reliant on support from a Horse Industry Escrow Account created by the state legislature in 2019. The HIEA collects up to $50 million during the state’s two-year fiscal year budget period from sales taxes on horse-related purchases (feed, tack, etc.) that is then paid back to the horse industry through purses and…
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