Slots and Horse Racing
Video slots are starting to spread to race courses across the country. Although there is some resistance..
Florida took its time allowing slot terminals but then only in Broward County where voters approved a referendum. Gulfstream Park is one of only four 'pari-mutuel' facilities that can utilise up to 1,500 video slot machines.
The track has announced it will start with 500 machines, in a special section of its new clubhouse.
Pennsylvania will probably be next in line to hand out conditional licenses to six racetracks.
Yet many states have faced opposition regarding the installation of video slots: Texas, Kansas, Ohio and Massachusetts.
The state of Texas is one example of where horse racing faces a grave situation. because of neighboring states enticing bettors to their tracks which offer Las Vegas-style gambling.
If Texan lawmakers do not take action it is could be that horse racing may not survive.
The neighbouring states of Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico are benefiting by the Texas holdouts in terms of introducing slot machines at courses. These neighbour states offer purses three times bigger than some Texas race tracks can afford to pay - because they have added slots revenue.
Texas racecourses need slots / VDT's.
One study showed that authorization of VDTs at tracks would create more than 25,000 jobs and boost revenue by more than a billion annually.
