Texas racing is making a renewed push to reconnect with the national wagering market, with Sam Houston Race Park, Lone Star Park and state industry leaders exploring a path to resume interstate simulcasting before the next Sam Houston meet opens in December. The effort would restore a crucial revenue stream without requiring Texas to wait for a final ruling on the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's federal authority.
The financial stakes are substantial. Sam Houston generated roughly $100 million in interstate simulcast handle in 2022, before the Texas Racing Commission directed tracks to stop exporting their signals. That figure subsequently fell to approximately $10 million annually, a collapse that Bryan Pettigrew, the track's general manager, said cost both Sam Houston and its horsemen an estimated $3 million to $4 million apiece in purses and operating income. The figures and the proposed December timetable were reported by BloodHorse.
Phil Leckinger, president of the Texas Thoroughbred Association, said the immediate objective is to get the signal moving again rather than allow the unresolved constitutional dispute to continue draining the state's racing economy. Texas permits wagering at licensed facilities on racing conducted within the state, and its signals can still be distributed internationally, including to Woodbine in Canada, but the state has no legal advance-deposit wagering or off-track wagering network. That leaves interstate simulcasting as the most direct way to expand the customer base for Texas racing without a broader legislative overhaul.
The proposed compromise would not necessarily require a formal settlement. Pettigrew has suggested that Texas tracks could export their signals while operating under HISA protocols and paying the assessments associated with federal oversight. HISA outside general counsel John Roach said the authority would welcome Texas signals, while indicating that the practical step may simply be for the tracks to resume exporting them. Any return would likely require Texas operations to meet HISA and Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit requirements, potentially including additional veterinary and safety personnel.
The pressure is not limited to racetrack balance sheets. Leckinger said Texas bred only 230 mares in 2025, with the total expected to fall to roughly 200 to 210 this year, compared with annual levels around twice that number from 2019 through 2023. Fewer wagering dollars mean less support for purses, breeder incentives and accredited Texas-bred programs. Restored simulcasting could also return state assessment payments to HISA's funding structure and reduce the relative burden on jurisdictions already participating in the system.
The Texas Racing Commission scheduled an October 14 Austin session titled “Status of Horse Racing in Texas,” bringing breed organizations, horsemen and racetrack representatives before Chairman Judge Robert Pate and fellow commissioners. The meeting was designed as an industry accounting rather than a formal vote, but its timing gives the discussions added significance as Sam Houston's December opening approaches. The Texas Dispatch reported that the session included separate panels for horsemen and breed groups and for racetracks.
For handicappers and bettors, the issue is bigger than whether a signal appears on an out-of-state wagering menu. Interstate distribution helps determine how much money flows into purses, how many dates tracks can sustain and whether owners have an incentive to keep breeding and racing in Texas. The Supreme Court may ultimately decide HISA's constitutional fate, but the industry's current strategy is more pragmatic: restore the signal, operate within the existing safety framework where possible and keep Texas racing alive while the litigation runs its course.