Andrea Young: The TT Interview
Andrea Young, the president and chief operating officer of the Sam Houston Race Park, is trying to talk Texas legislators into calling a popular vote on whether to allow video lottery terminals — known as VLTS or, more commonly, as slot machines — at racetracks and on Indian reservations in Texas. Like other gaming interests, the Win for Texas group representing the tracks is telling lawmakers that it would be an easy source of non-tax revenue for an uncomfortably tight state budget. And, they argue, Texans are gambling already — they're just not doing it here. Young sat for an interview to ...
Comments (2)
Val Wolf
The legalization of slot machines at dog tracks almost always ties dog racing to the slot machines, requiring by law that dogs continue to race as a platform for expanded gambling. This marriage of two unrelated forms of gambling allows dog track promoters use slot machines to save commercial dog racing.
The recent financial woes at tracks across the U.S. is proof that without the life support of other forms of gambling, greyhound racing is a dying industry. Since 2001, twenty-five tracks have either closed or ended live racing.
Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane. Greyhounds endure lives of nearly constant confinement, kept in cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around. While racing, many dogs suffer and die from injuries including broken legs, paralysis, and cardiac arrest. And many greyhounds are euthanized every year, as the number retired from racing exceeds the number of adoptive homes.
At racetracks across the country, greyhounds endure lives of confinement. According to industry statements, greyhounds are generally confined in their cages for approximately 20 hours per day. They live inside warehouse-style kennels in stacked cages that are barely large enough to stand up or turn around. Generally, shredded paper or carpet remnants are used as bedding.
An undercover video recently released by GREY2K USA shows the conditions in which these gentle dogs are forced to live: http://www.grey2kusa.org/azVideo.html
For more information on injuries these dogs suffer, please view:
http://www.grey2kusa.org/azInjuries.html
http://www.grey2kusa.org/eNEWS/G2K-022811Email.html
Dogs play an important role in our lives and deserve to be protected from industries and individuals that do them harm.
Val Wolf Board Member, GREY2K USA
Nirav Patel
It is sad to see that gambling is pitched as a great way to make revenue for the state. Doesn't anyone notice that less people benefit than people gain from gambling? And it's usually the higher classes of people that benefit. I doubt that Andrea Young has a friend's circle that frequents the race park and I will wager that her house is nowhere close to these types of establishments.