04/07/2001

Since opening four years ago, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie has carved out a niche for horse racing in the crowded, competitive North Texas sports marketplace.

It ranked among the nation's top dozen tracks in 2000, with an average daily attendance of 9,251 and an average betting of $1.31 million for thoroughbred racing. Prize money for jockeys and owners, a key measure of a track's ability to attract top horses, jumped to $244,675 last year from $176,452 in 1997.

Beyond the numbers, Lone Star Park has established a reputation in the industry as an efficient, effective operator – good enough to become a candidate for the Breeders' Cup, one of the sport's top events, in 2004.

But this is no time to grow complacent, said Bob Kaminski, Lone Star Park's chairman. Figures show the average attendance and the daily betting actually slipped a bit last year.

With an eye toward the future, Kaminski is floating an idea that he says will boost revenue: Change state law to allow Texans to set up cash accounts with tracks and place bets from their living-room couches. At it stands now, the only way to wager on horse racing in Texas is to go to a betting window at the track.

"There are only so many more people who we can convince to come out to Lone Star Park on an annual basis," Kaminski said.

The horse-racing business grows in a cycle. Fatter purses lure better horses, which attract more fans and betting dollars, so the track can then pay higher purses that will lead to even better horses, even more fans and even more wagering.

If races are televised, off-site betting will spur the sport's growth by providing tens of millions of dollars for Texas racing, a portion of which will go toward prize money.

"If Texas is ultimately going to compete at a top level for horses, with Florida, California and Kentucky, we have to get purses up," Kaminski said.

Off-site betting won't be an easy sell in Texas, a state that operates a lottery but isn't friendly to gambling.

"I would be very much opposed to that," said Richard Blankenship, regional director for the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. "Anytime you increase the availability of gambling, you're going to increase problem gambling."

However, Kaminski contends that potential abuses can be addressed in the account-wagering law – for example, prohibiting gambling on credit and installing safeguards against underage bettors.

For Lone Star Park, off-site betting is a competitive issue, not a moral one. Ten states already allow account wagering, and another 10 are considering it. Louisiana, a rival for the region's horse-racing business, started off-site betting a year ago, and it now allows tracks to install slot machines.

Account wagering is a better alternative than off-track betting parlors, which are expensive to build and operate but not as convenient for racing fans. "Technology has made OTBs obsolete," Kaminski said.

Kaminski realizes off-site betting faces a tough fight in Austin, and he doesn't plan to push the issue until the 2003 legislative session at the earliest.

Lone Star Park's legislative effort for this year will focus on a bill that would provide a one-year rebate of pari-mutuel taxes for any Texas track that wins the Breeders' Cup, an event that would attract 50,000 fans. If the bill passes and Lone Star Park lands the Breeders' Cup, the track would get $1.8 million back from the state to help defray the costs associated with the event.

For now, the focus of Kaminski's off-site betting campaign will be on closing ranks in the Texas racing industry.

When it comes to money issues, the state's three big tracks, horse owners and others often squabble over how to split the pie, rather than working together for the good of the business.

"Very seldom has there been a unified front because there is so much infighting in the industry," Kaminski said. "We end up defeating ourselves before we even get started."

Unfortunately, the cycle that builds the horse-racing business can also spiral downward. If tracks in other states with off-site betting can offer bigger purses, top horses will go elsewhere, leaving Lone Star Park and other Texas tracks with fewer prize thoroughbreds. At that point, attendance and betting might dwindle – as would state tax receipts.

And that, Kaminski insists, is a losing bet.

Staff writer Richard Alm reports on sports business for The Dallas Morning News. His e-mail address is ralm