Officially, there’s no more dog racing in New England. Practically, it’s been gone for a while.  And if opponents of dog racing are as attuned to public opinion as they say they are, greyhound racing may be running on borrowed time across the country.

Gov. John Lynch of New Hampshire signed a bill last week banning greyhound racing in the Granite State. Dogs, however, have long since been absent from its two remaining tracks. The facilities only show simulcasts of races held elsewhere. Seven states allow greyhound racing, including Florida, which has 13 tracks. There are 23 in the U.S.

The U.S. Humane Society said New Hampshire’s law prohibits “inherently inhumane treatment of dogs.” Its press release claimed that nearly 1,200 greyhounds were injured while racing in that state in three years. Rep. Mary Cooney, a Democrat from Plymouth, N.H., sponsored the bill. She said: “The dreams of so many dog lovers have finally been realized with the end of dog racing in our state.”

But that dream is happening even without legislation.

Eleven states have banned dog racing. Those that haven’t, like Connecticut, have seen their racetracks shuttered or transformed into gambling houses focused on slot machines and the like. Plainfield’s Greyhound Park closed in 2005. Bridgeport’s held its final race on Oct. 10, 2005. Afterward, it dropped “greyhound park” to become the Shoreline Star Simulcast Complex, “home of thoroughbred, harness, greyhound and jai alai simulcast action.”

Connecticut’s dog racing history has seen its share of booms and busts. In 1996, the Shoreline Star closed amid bankruptcy proceedings, terrible attendance and allegations of wagering improprieties. It rallied two years later. Recently, it was acquired by Scientific Games, which manufacturers video gambling devices. Afterward, the Shoreline Star turned away from live dog racing altogether.

“Under our new ownership, we were not required to run live racing to keep simulcast racing,” says facilities manager Steve Alford. Alford wouldn’t say if live dog racing is a wash. Instead, he says customer demand fueled the shift from live to simulcast racing. “Our proximity to the New York means a majority of customers prefer thoroughbred and harness racing,” he says. Shoreline Star’s greyhound simulcasts, he says, “continue to be successful.”

The industry has indeed been losing money for years.

In 1991, wagers totaled $3.5 billion. By 2007, they were $1.1 billion. Nationwide, more than half of dog tracks have closed, four of them just last year. Beginning in the 1970s, states expanded their lotto monopolies and Indian reservations built enormous casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Dog racing has been losing ground since. Business is so bad that more dogtracks would be closed if not for corporate subsidies that some states legally require.

For instance, at the time Iowa legalized riverboat gambling, lawmakers struck a deal to support the local agricultural economy that feed and maintained greyhounds. Rules were enacted that effectively subsidized racetracks with proceeds from gambling companies like Harrah’s.
Harrah’s pays $140 million to breeders annually, so it’s lobbying Iowa’s legislators to outlaw its own business. To do so, Harrah’s and others have joined forces with Grey2K USA, an advocacy group that has spent millions of its own to ban dog racing nationwide. It also helped write legislation in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

But even if the business still thrived, public opinion is turning away from dog racing, says Carey Theil, executive director of Grey2K USA. “Even in Florida, which has a deep tradition, dog racing is losing ground,” he says. “The panhandle area is pro-racing. Jacksonville, too. But our polling was good in Orlando, Broward County and Miami.”
Affecting public opinion are high-profile cases like Michael Vick’s, in which the NFL quarterback was imprisoned for dog fighting. Also, in 2002, authorities discovered the remains of as many as 3,000 greyhounds on an Alabama farm just over the Florida line. A former racetrack security guard admitted to killing them for money for 40 years.

“Dog racing’s fan base is not as young as it used to be,” Theil says. “It’s definitely losing currency in the gambling marketplace. But mainstream opinion is changing, too. It was acceptable 20 years ago and not now. Times have changed. The only people who don’t seem to understand that are the dog breeders.” —John Stoehr
 

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Karyn Zoldan  - Take action to end greyhound racing     |2010-07-12 13:45:16 Thank you for your well-researched article. As a greyhound adopter and advocate, I am thrilled by events of track closings and am confident that I will see the end of greyhound racing in the United States in my life time. "The only people who don't seem to understand that are the dog breeders." Oddly enough there was just a July 11 article in the Lawton Constitution about a 75 year old grandmother who breeds greyhounds and has nearly 2,000 on the premises now. What will happen to these dogs with all the tracks closing? How many of them will make it to retirement? The breeding grandmother said her business was booming. Scary. She's needs to be injected with a dose of reality. Again, thank you for your informative article. Reply 1   0

enddogracingnow!  - end dog racing now!   |2010-07-13 11:26:21 Anyone who steps foot in a dog track, even if they don't bet on the dogs but play keno, watch horse races on satellite, eat dinner, etc. -- they are contributing to animal cruelty by allowing the tracks to stay open. I live within two miles of the Naples/Ft. Myers dog track, which is actually in Bonita Springs and it has had more citations/violations, and yet it's still open for business. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY! These gentle dogs are treated like disposable commodities. Don't be fooled -- the majority of ex-racers don't go to warm, fuzzy loving homes. Most are euthanized, and most people don't know that. Florida does have the most tracks and it's apparent that the state of Florida is not going to cut off it's CASH COW anytime soon, so consumers must do the trick. Vote with your dollars -- don't support the track! Reply 1   0

Tom Grady  - The more education, the better     |2010-07-13 11:57:04 Thankfully, an ever-increasing level of awareness is growing with the general public on the topic of greyhound racing. The deaths, injuries and conditions the dogs live under are reason enough for banning the industry. But with more of the greyhounds - not all by any stretch - going into rescue in recent years, it only adds to the overall number of homeless dogs. And for every homeless greyhound the industry produces, another homeless dog dies in a shelter. Too few people are talking about this aspect of the issue. It compares certainly with puppy mills. Reply 0   0

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