By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-830506.mp3
Dallas, TX – The horses are off & running tomorrow at Grand Prairie's Lone Star Park season opener. With the track's parent company under bankruptcy protection, Lone Star is betting on a bottom line boost by adding slot machines. That's if legislators and voters ok the move. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more
Lone Star Park is the state's biggest of 7 para-mutuel betting tracks statewide, and has made money every year. Vice President G. W. Hail says the park is unaffected by parent Magna Entertainment's bankruptcy filing. But with competing tracks in border states offering slot machines, Hail says his track needs slots to level the playing field.
GW Hail: It's an additional revenue stream we don't have today, it would keep about a billion dollars from going out of state.
And he says slot machines would add thousands of jobs, needed in these tough times. For worried opponents, Hail says the track's already regulated for gaming by the state racing commission, so adding casino type slot machines would be a natural fit. But Suzii Paynter, with the Christian Life Commission, says slot machines would introduce a predatory business model that Texas does not need.
Suzii Paynter: When people lose more money than they intended to spend, at a slot machine, the casino organization that runs the slot barns at race tracks, they have authority of a bank to go in and repossess your car, to take savings, to take your belonging, that's not entertainment. That's not a business model that leads to good community citizens.
Paynter worries about gambling addictions that lead to credit card fraud and other crimes, even when those affected are a tiny fraction of the population. Austin lawmakers considered nearly a dozen casino bills in committee sessions Wednesday including one Lone Star Park cares about, because it would allow slot machines. Expect a consolidation of these bills to come up again in a few weeks.
Casino bills have failed in the past, but this time, new House Speaker Joe Straus comes from a family that runs a racetrack. Straus says he won't weigh on the issue. Dallas Senator John Corona also backs legalized gambling.