Greyhound track owners, reliant on casino games, want relief from state rules on number of races

Greyhound racing parks are losing millions because casino gambling in track basements, which owners lobbied for and won years ago, is drawing more people than the races they were founded on. Despite the lost revenue, tracks are required to maintain a certain level of greyhound racing, such as six days a week in Iowa, reports A.G. Sulzberger of The New York Times. (NYT photo by Steve Hebert)

More than half the greyhound tracks in the U.S. have closed over the last decade, but a few survived by adding slot machines and poker tables under the condition that some of the profits go to the races, subsidizing one form of gambling for another, Sulzberger writes. According to Grey2K USA, a nonprofit focused on ending greyhound racing, there are 22 tracks in seven states, with some in rural areas or supported by rural people.

Greyhound track owners in Iowa, Arizona and Florida have been lobbying for changes in the law that would allow them to cut the number of races or shut down tracks while keeping the gambling operations open. Sulzberger reports a legislative win in any state is unlikely in the short term, but the effort "has intensified concern that the end may be near for a century-old pastime." The move is being seen as a betrayal by "those who earn their paychecks -- or lose them -- at the greyhound tracks."

Many say the sport can't survive financially without expanded gambling, but argue track's shouldn't be allowed to abandon racing for greater profits after using it to justify expanded gambling. Animal-rights advocates say the newfound alliance with track owners, whom they've fought for decades about the mistreatment of greyhounds, has broadened their case from a moral argument to a business-focused one against government mandates. (Read more)