Texas off track betting does not include any standalone OTB parlors. Not one.
That single fact shapes everything about off track betting Texas residents can legally access. Wagering happens at three permanent race tracks and one county fairgrounds, and nowhere else in the state.
Online horse wagering has been illegal here since 2011. We cover what that means below. You will also find every active venue, the 2026 meet calendar, and the races worth planning around. For sportsbook coverage elsewhere, see our best online sportsbooks guide.
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The racebooks below are long-established international operators with solid payout records and deep racing coverage. We rate them on those grounds, not on their status under Texas law.
Read the legal section before you use one. These books are licensed offshore rather than by the Texas Racing Commission, and that distinction matters.
Texas OTB locations
There are no standalone off track betting facilities anywhere in Texas. Anyone searching for off track betting Austin, Texas will find the same answer we did. The nearest legal option is a licensed race track. Austin does not have one.
In our analysis, the Texas off track betting sites worth knowing come down to three permanent tracks. Sam Houston Race Park serves Houston, Lone Star Park serves Dallas-Fort Worth, and Retama Park serves San Antonio.
The Gillespie County Fair in Fredericksburg adds pari-mutuel wagering, but only across four weekends in July and August.
Austin bettors sit roughly 80 miles from Retama Park, the closest venue. Fredericksburg is a similar distance west, though only during the fair meet.
Texas banned online horse wagering in 2011. Visiting a licensed track in person remains the only legal way to bet a race in this state. If you are looking for off track betting near me in another state, the rules are often very different.
Sam Houston Race Park
Lone Star Park
Retama Park
Gillespie County Fair
Sam Houston Race Park is the best option for Houston bettors. Its simulcast racebook runs year-round, well beyond the live meet.
One practical detail catches people out. The park went cashless on January 1, 2026, but wagering remains cash only. Bring cash for the windows, card for everything else.
Lone Star Park is the Dallas-Fort Worth simulcast venue. It is in Grand Prairie, roughly halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth.
The racebook operates year-round, covering the long gaps between its thoroughbred and quarter horse meets.
Retama Park's Clubhouse 95 Sports Bar is San Antonio's year-round simulcast option. It opens five days a week from approximately 11:15 am.
That makes it the most accessible venue in the state outside a live meet. It is also the closest legal wagering point to Austin.
Live racing runs to August 22, 2026. After that, simulcast carries the venue through to next summer.
The Gillespie County Fair takes pari-mutuel wagers only during its summer race meet. It is not a year-round simulcast venue.
Racing runs across four weekends in July and August in Fredericksburg. Outside those dates, there is no wagering here at all.
Texas Horse racing tracks
Texas has three permanent race tracks and one active fairgrounds venue licensed for pari-mutuel wagering. All three permanent tracks run simulcast year-round.
Together they cover January through November. For background on the sport itself, see our horse racing hub.
Sam Houston Race Park
Sam Houston opened in 1994 as Texas's first Class 1 horse racing facility. It sits about 20 miles from downtown Houston and Penn Entertainment operates it.
The 2026 thoroughbred meet ran January 2 through April 4, opening the Texas racing calendar. The quarter horse meet followed from April 16 through June 13. Racing ran Thursday through Saturday evenings, with the first post at 6:30 pm.
The Houston Racing Festival on January 24, 2026, was the marquee thoroughbred date, carrying the track's graded stakes.
The dirt oval is complemented by a 7/8-mile turf course, unusually long for an American track.
| Location | 7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway West, Houston, TX 77064 |
| Opened | April 24, 1994 |
| Surface | Dirt and Turf |
| Racing Type | Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse |
| 2026 Thoroughbred Meet | January 2 through April 4 |
| 2026 Quarter Horse Meet | April 16 through June 13 |
| Phone | 281-807-8700 |
Lone Star Park
Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie hosted the 2004 Breeders' Cup World Championships. It opened in 1997 and remains the state's highest-profile thoroughbred venue.
The 2026 thoroughbred meet ran April 16 through July 12 across 41 live race days. Post times are 6:35 pm on Thursdays and Fridays, and 1:35 pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and Memorial Day.
The quarter horse meet is next up, opening in September and running to November 27.
Lone Star Million Day is the marquee stakes card, held each Memorial Day. Six stakes worth $1.2 million, anchored by the Steve Sexton Mile and the Texas Derby.
| Location | 1000 Lone Star Parkway, Grand Prairie, TX 75050 |
| Opened | 1997 |
| Surface | Dirt and Turf |
| Racing Type | Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse |
| 2026 Thoroughbred Meet | April 16 through July 12 |
| 2026 Quarter Horse Meet | September 11 through November 27 |
| Phone | 972-263-7223 |
Retama Park
Retama Park in Selma is the San Antonio area's racing venue. Penn Entertainment operates it, and it opened in 1995.
The 2026 quarter horse meet runs June 25 through August 22 across 24 race days. Racing is Thursday to Saturday evenings with a 6:15 pm post, pausing on July 4, 18, and August 15.
Retama is not quarter horse only. It cards Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa racing, which is unusual and worth knowing if you handicap the breeds differently.
Closing weekend runs August 20 to 22nd with five stakes finals on the final Saturday.
| Location | One Retama Parkway, Selma, TX 78154 |
| Opened | 1995 |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Racing Type | Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa |
| 2026 Live Meet | June 25 through August 22 |
| Simulcast | Year-round at Clubhouse 95 Sports Bar |
| Phone | 210-651-7000 |
The meet is growing. Trial weekend on August 8 drew $630, 850 in total wagering, up more than 10% year on year. On-track handle rose 24%.
Clubhouse 95 Sports Bar keeps simulcast wagering open year-round, which is what makes Retama useful outside the meet. General Admission is $5.
The one-mile dirt oval doubles as a training facility from December through April.
Gillespie County Fair
Gillespie County Fair is the only active Class III fairgrounds racing venue in Texas. It runs alongside the state's oldest continuous county fair.
Racing covers four weekends in July and August, eight race days in total, on a 5/8-mile oval built in 1976. First post is 1:00 pm.
General admission is $10, with children aged 6 to 12 at $5.
The Gillespie County Derby is the signature event. This is the most informal racing in Texas, and worth the trip for that reason alone.
| Location | Fredericksburg, Texas |
| Racing Type | Quarter Horse and Mixed |
| 2026 Race Dates | Four weekends, July and August |
| Post Time | 1:00 pm |
| Admission | $10 general, $5 children 6-12 |
Major Texas horse races
Texas thoroughbred racing is done for 2026. Sam Houston closed on April 4 and Lone Star on July 12. All five headline races below have already run this year.
Quarter horse racing is what remains in 2026. Retama Park's meet closes on August 22. Lone Star Park's quarter horse season opens in September and runs to November 27.
For Texas off track betting, the next thoroughbred date to plan around is the Houston Racing Festival in January 2027. Lone Star Million Day follows on Memorial Day, with both events among the state's biggest racing dates.
Houston Ladies Classic
John B. Connally Turf Cup
Steve Sexton Mile
Texas Derby
Retama Park Derby
The Houston Ladies Classic is the marquee thoroughbred race on the Houston Racing Festival card. The next running comes in January 2027.
The race is a Grade 3 worth $300,000, contested over 1 and 1/16 miles on dirt. It is open to fillies and mares aged four and up.
Nothing else on the Sam Houston calendar is richer. It anchors a five-stakes card that also carries the Connally Turf Cup and the $100,000 Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile.
Perfect Shot took the 2026 edition on January 24, a fifth straight win in the race for trainer Steve Asmussen.
The Connally Turf Cup is the companion turf race to the Ladies Classic, run on the same January card. The next running is January 2027.
It carries a $200,000 purse over 1 and 1/2 miles on turf, for four-year-olds and up.
Note the class. The Connally is now a Listed race rather than a graded one, having lost its Grade 3 status. The purse is unchanged, and it still draws shippers from well outside Texas.
The 2026 running attracted a full field of twelve.
The Steve Sexton Mile is the headline race on Lone Star Million Day. It runs each Memorial Day, and the 2026 edition took place on May 25.
It is a Grade 3 with a $400,000 guaranteed purse, contested over one mile on dirt for three-year-olds and up.
That guarantee makes it Texas' richest race. It was the state's first graded thoroughbred stakes, and it anchors six stakes worth $1.2 million on Million Day.
Diary it for Memorial Day 2027.
The Texas Derby is the marquee three-year-old race on Lone Star Million Day, sharing the card with the Sexton Mile.
The purse is $300,000 guaranteed, over 1 and 1/16 miles, with the field capped at fourteen starters. It is an ungraded stakes despite the money.
It is the state's premier spring prep for three-year-old thoroughbreds. Pairing it with the Sexton Mile is what gives Million Day its weight.
Retama's richest race is the $230,000 TQHA Sires' Cup Futurity, a Restricted Grade 2 run on closing day.
The $100,000 TQHA Sires' Cup Derby is the Restricted Grade 3 companion. Both are limited to foals by stallions entered in the TQHA Stallion Auction. That makes them a showcase for Texas breeding rather than an open contest.
The $61,972 Colors of the Alamo Paint and Appaloosa Futurity is a Grade 3 and the highlight for those breeds.
All three ran their finals on August 22, 2026, and will return next summer. A record $38,380 in stallion awards went back to breeders through the Sires' Cup program this year.
Texas Horse racing history
Racing in Texas ran informally for well over a century before it was regulated. Pari-mutuel wagering was legalized in 1933, banned in 1937, and did not return until 1987.
Sam Houston Race Park opened in 1994 as the state's first Class 1 facility. Lone Star Park followed in 1997. It hosted the 2004 Breeders' Cup World Championships, still the high-water mark for Texas racing.
The defining legislative moment came in 2011, when an amendment to the Texas Racing Act banned advance deposit wagering. Texas went from a growing market to one of the most restrictive in the country.
The Texas Racing Commission now governs the sport. It has also been in an extended standoff with HISA, the federal horse racing safety authority, over jurisdiction and funding.
Is online horse betting legal in Texas?
No. Online horse racing wagering is illegal in Texas.
A 2011 amendment to the Texas Racing Act removed advance deposit wagering as a legal option. ADW is the account-based system that lets bettors in most states fund an account and wager from a phone. Texas residents cannot legally use it.
The practical consequence is simple. Betting in person at a licensed Texas track is the only legal option.
The minimum age for pari-mutuel wagering in Texas is 21, higher than the 18 that applies in many racing states.
The Texas Racing Commission regulates all of it. Legislation here does keep moving. Bills touching wagering appear in most sessions, so verify the current position before assuming anything has changed.
Texas Off Track betting in 2026
Texas offers a concentrated racing scene rather than a sprawling one. Three permanent tracks, one fairgrounds meet, and a calendar running January through November.
What it does not offer is convenience. No standalone parlors and no legal online wagering. Any off track betting Texas bettors want means a drive to Houston, Grand Prairie, Selma or Fredericksburg.
Two dates are worth planning around. Lone Star Park's quarter horse opener in September, then the Houston Racing Festival in January 2027.
Responsible gambling
Betting should stay entertainment. If gambling is causing you or someone you know harm, help is available.
Contact the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), available 24 hours a day. More resources are on our responsible gambling page.
