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Shades of Grey:
March 6, 2015
Mongrel Gaming Interests
Debate Pedigree Purities
The Bloodlines of Casino and Racetrack Industries
Are Both Besmirched by Out-of-State Special Interests
T
he casino and racetrack industries have a
bitter history. Both sides want the state to
legalize slot machines. But each side argues that it alone deserves to monopolize this
lucrative gambling expansion.
This old feud recently took a turn for the worst
as a past president of the Texas Thoroughbred
Association invoked nativist-purity claims in a
dispute involving Native Americans, racehorses,
greyhounds and blue-blood casino owners.
publican Caucus letter last summer opposing
historical racing consoles. This is an important
story because lawmakers let lobbyists ghostwrite
too many bills.
But veterinarian David Stephens, who has headed a thoroughbred horse trade group, couldn’t
leave it at that. The Tribune reported that Stephens was outraged that Locke Lord lobbyist
Robert Miller apparently acted as a ghostwriter
for “out-of-state casinos” controlled by the
“deep pockets” of the Houston-based Fertitta
clan (which operates casinos in other states).
Texas lawmakers long have rebuffed calls for
slot machines. Spurning 15 GOP senators, the
Texas Racing Commission ruled last year that
There are reasons to believe that Stephens—like
tracks could introduce “historical racing” conthe thoroughbred Danish queen of yore—doth
soles. These slots-like machines let gamblers bet
protest too much. First, the racing industry’s
on videos of past races. A subsequent court rul2014 political expenditures were several times
ing found that Racing Commissioners lack aularger than the combined spending of Indian
thority for such a gambling
tribes and other casino in2014 Election Cycle
expansion.
terests. Second, deep-pocket
Gambling Contributions
“out-of-state special interAmount
%
Contributor
The Texas Tribune recentests” control not just casi$7,096,955
74% Racetrack Interests
ly reported that a casino
nos but many Texas race$1,430,000
15% Indian Tribes
lobbyist helped Senator
tracks, as well.
$1,071,358
11%
Casino
Interests
Joan Huffman draft a Re$9,598,313
100%
TOTAL
Top Racing Interests
2014 Cycle
Amount
Racing
Tie(s)
Contributor
$1,738,000 Robert C McNair
Ret
$1,532,500 Peter & Julianna Holt
Ret
$520,031 Gerald J Ford
TB
$286,730 Bobby D & Leona Cox
TB/QH
$274,556 Clifton & Cathy Thomas
LD
$273,750 ‘Red’ & Charline McCombs
Ret
$265,518 George ‘Tim’ & Karen Hixon
Ret
$251,000 Texas Events PAC
QH
$245,747 MAXXAM Inc. PAC
Max
$237,413 Gregory LaMantia
LaMant
$118,065 Michael T Gallagher
LD
$110,750 Tom Durant
TB/QH
$99,750 Robert & Gordon Johnson
GG
$98,000 Gallagher Law Firm
LD
$96,500 William/Val LaMantia Peisen LaMant
$89,175 Stephen & Linda LaMantia
LaMant
$85,000 Joe V LaMantia Jr
LaMant
$69,925 Charles W Graham
LD/GG/TS
$60,200 Scott & Eleanor Petty
Ret
$60,000 Phil D Adams
LD/GG/TS
$55,825 Anthony/Jennifer LaMantia
LaMant
$54,560 Joe V LaMantia III
LaMant
$50,750 Helen Kleberg Groves
Ret
$39,801 Charles E Cheever
Ret
$38,894 Mikal C Watts
GCR
$24,951 Lukin T Gilliland
Ret
$19,250 Melissa Jones
QH
$19,050 John W Elder
TB
$17,000 Nicholas T Serafy
LaMant
$17,000 Nat’l Cutting Horse Assn.
CH
$15,000 Curtis C Gunn
Ret
$12,000 Samantha LaMantia
LaMant
$10,875 Joe R & Jocelyn Straus Jr. GG/LD/Ret
Note: Donors above supplied 97 percent of all racing money.
Key
Racing Interest
Casino magnate Tilman Fertitta
CH
GCR
LaMan
GG
LD
QH
Max
Ret
TB
TS
Cutting Horses
Gulf Coast Racing
LaMantia tracks*
Gulf Greyhounds
Longhorn Downs
Quarter Horses
Maxxam tracks**
Retama Park
Thoroughbreds
Valle de Tesoros
*Gulf Coast, Laredo Downs,
Retama and Tesoros.
** Laredo, Sam Houston and
Valley Race Parks.
Racing interests spent $7 million on Texas’ 2014
elections, or almost three times the $2.5 million
spent by Indian tribes and other casino interests.
Just two of Retama Park’s investors, Robert
McNair and Peter Holt, invested $3.3 million in
Texas’ elections. That alone exceeds the combined spending of all tribal and casino interests.
Consider how much more Stephens might protest
if a scion of Tilman Fertitta’s casino clan was
Texas House Speaker. Instead, that job falls to
Joe Straus, whose father pioneered parimutuel
betting in Texas and has longstanding interests in
Retama and other Texas tracks.
Clearly, the racing industry has the clout to
ghostwrite bills authorizing racetrack slot machines. But it lacks the votes to pass those bills—
much less the requisite constitutional amendment. That’s why the industry tried to move slots
through a back door—one held by a lame-duck
governor’s Racing Commissioners.
Stephens’s denunciations of “out-of-state special
interests” are another instance of the racing pot
calling casino kettles black. Out-of-state gambling corporations own major shares of many
Texas racetrack franchises.
A joint venture of Houston’s Maxxam, Inc. and
Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming owns
the Laredo, Sam Houston and Valley Race Parks.
Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment owns a
controlling share of Retama. And a Chickasaw
Nation company owns 49 percent of Lone Star
Park. Out-of-state companies own major stakes
in many Texas horseracing venues. And those
companies all own out-of-state casinos—the very
rogues that Stephens denounced.
Apparently, “We have found the enemy and he is
us.”
Without even touching on how Mexico’s Zetas
drug cartel used expensive racehorses to launder
money in Texas and neighboring states, it’s clear
that true, nativist thoroughbreds are hard to find
in the greedy fight between casino and racing
interests.
Top Racing Recipients
2014 Cycle
Amount
$1,757,761
$586,250
$490,503
$403,600
$317,100
$291,531
$252,000
$168,750
$164,600
$140,000
$118,594
$102,340
$100,000
$99,188
$74,000
$68,700
$52,560
$52,000
$48,750
$46,752
$44,800
$43,565
$41,000
$40,350
$39,000
$36,750
$35,000
$33,500
$33,250
$30,000
$28,500
$28,500
$26,000
$26,000
$25,000
$22,850
$21,500
$19,500
$18,954
$18,000
$18,000
Recipient
Greg Abbott
Texans for Lawsuit Reform
David Dewhurst
*Dan Patrick
Joe Straus
Dan Branch
Texans For Education Reform
Glenn Hegar
Associated Republicans of TX
Republican Party of TX
*John Carona
TX Trial Lawyers Assn.
Rick Perry
Wholesale Beer Distributors
George P. Bush
*Donna Campbell
Jerry Patterson
Trey Martinez Fischer
Ken Paxton
Wendy Davis
Barry Smitherman
Senfronia Thompson
Whitmire, John
House Democratic Camp. Com.
Todd Hunter
Todd Staples
TX Good Roads, Transpo. Assn.
Sylvia Garcia
Mike Novak
Juan 'Chuy' Hinojosa
Hispanic Republicans of TX
TX House Leadership Fund
Kirk Watson
John 'Jake' Ellzey
Jobs for TX PAC
Leticia Van de Putte
Jeff Boyd
Royce West
Rico Reyes
Konni Burton
Paul Bettencourt
Favorite Racing Contributor(s)
Peter Holt
Robert McNair
Peter Holt
Peter Holt
Peter Holt
Gerald J. Ford
Robert McNair
Bobby Cox
Robert McNair
Robert McNair
Gerald J. Ford
Michael Gallagher
Peter Holt
Gregory LaMantia
George ‘Tim’ Hixon
Peter Holt
Gregory LaMantia
Gallagher Law Firm
BJ ‘Red’ McCombs
Lukin Guillard
Peter Holt
Michael Gallagher
Gallagher Law Firm
Joe LaMantia Jr.
Gallagher Law Firm
Scott Petty
Peter Holt
Gregory LaMantia
Maxxam, Inc. PAC
William & Val Peisen
Robert McNair
Robert McNair
Gregory LaMantia
Peter Holt
Robert McNair
Melissa Jones
BJ ‘Red’ McCombs
Gerald J. Ford
Mikal Watts
Bobby Cox/Peter Holt/Johnson Bros.
Maxxam, Inc. PAC
Note: Recipients above collected 84 percent of all racing money.
*Signed protest letter to Racing Commission.
Top Casino Contributors
2014 Cycle
Amount
$759,616
$93,250
$87,666
$50,000
$50,000
$8,377
$5,000
$5,000
$5,000
$5,000
Contributor
Tilman & Paige Fertitta (Landry’s)
Jack E Pratt (Pratt Development)
Landry's Restaurants (Fertittas)
Frank & Jill Fertitta (Station Casinos)
Lorenzo & Teresa Fertitta (Station Casinos)
Steve Greenberg (Landry’s)
Stephen Cavallaro (Fertitta Entertain.)
Marc Falcone (Fertitta Entertain.)
Richard & Janis Haskins (Station Casinos)
Scott & Mary Alice Nielson (Station Casinos)
Location
Houston
Dallas
Houston
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Galveston
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Top Casino Recipients
Amount
2014 Cycle
$376,000
$261,116
$52,500
$50,000
$36,188
$35,000
$35,000
$40,100
$25,000
$23,576
$11,000
$11,000
$7,000
$6,700
$5,491
$5,000
$5,000
$4,500
$4,500
$3,579
$3,500
$3,500
$2,790
$2,750
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
$2,500
Recipient
Greg Abbott
*Dan Patrick
Glenn Hegar
Joe Straus
Ken Paxton
*John Carona
John Whitmire
Wendy Davis
*Joan Huffman
Carol Alvarado
*Larry Taylor
*Kelly Hancock
Harvey Hilderbran
George P. Bush
Sylvia R. Garcia
Paul Bettencourt
Jerry Patterson
*Jane Nelson
Jason Villalba
Rodney Ellis
*Charles Schwertner
*Robert Lee Nichols
Rick Perry
TX Travel Industry Assn. PAC
Trey Martinez Fischer
Van Taylor
*Craig Estes
Konni L. Burton
*Brian D. Birdwell
*Donna Campbell
*Troy Fraser
*Signed protest letter to Racing Commission.
Favorite
Casino Interest(s)
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta/Landry’s
Tilman Fertitta
Jack Pratt
Tilman Fertitta
Jack Pratt
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Landry’s
Landry’s
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Landry’s
Tilman Fertitta
Jack Pratt
Jack Pratt
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Landry’s
Tilman Fertitta
S. Greenberg (Landry’s)
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tilman Fertitta
Tribal Contributions
Amount
2014 Cycle
$670,000
$450,000
$285,500
$24,500
$1,430,000
Contributor
Chickasaw Nation
Kickapoo
Choctaw Nation
Alabama-Coushatta
TOTAL
Location
Ada, OK
Eagle Pass, TX
Durant, OK
Livingston, TX
Top Tribal Recipients
Amount
2014 Cycle
$205,000
$172,500
$55,000
$55,000
$35,000
$30,000
$25,000
$25,000
$20,000
$20,000
$20,000
$20,000
$18,500
$15,500
$15,000
$15,000
$15,000
$14,000
$12,500
$12,000
$11,500
$11,000
$10,500
$10,500
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
$10,000
Recipient
Greg Abbott
*Dan Patrick
Ken Paxton
Republican Party of TX
Leticia Van de Putte
Glenn Hegar
*Joan Huffman
Carlos Uresti
*John Carona
*Kelly Hancock
Van Taylor
TX Repub. Legislative Caucus
TX Leg. Black Caucus
John Whitmire
Bob Deuell
*Jane Nelson
*Kel Seliger
Trey Martinez Fischer
Roberto Alonzo
Richard Wayne Smith
Jodie Laubenberg
Mex. Am. Leg. Caucus
Abel Herrero
Senfronia Thompson
Rafael Anchia
Helen Giddings
Linda Harper-Brown
House Dem. Campaign Com.
Don Huffines
John Otto
Diane Patrick
Todd Staples
*Larry Taylor
TX House Leadership Fund
Favorite
Tribe(s)
Chick
Kick
Kick
Choc
Kick
Chick/Choc/Kick
Chick/Kick
Kick
Chick
Chick/Choc
Chick/Kick
Choc
Choc
Chick
Chick
Kick
Chick
Chick
Chick
Chick
Chick
Coush
Chick
Chick
Chick
Chick
Chick
Chick
Choc/Kick
Chick/Choc
Chick/Choc
Choc
Choc/Kick
Choc
Note: Above recipients accounted for 66 percent of all tribal money.
*Signed protest letter to Racing Commission.