Officials at Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque, Iowa—the state’s only remaining greyhound racetrack—are bracing for the potential impact of the upcoming closure of Florida’s 11 greyhound racetracks plus the end of casino subsidies. Last month, Floridians approved Amendment 3, a constitutional amendment ending greyhound racing by 2021. The closures are expected to dramatically affect the greyhound population across the nation.
Iowa Greyhound Park General Manager Brian Carpenter said, “People won’t breed as many greyhounds. So down the road, I have a feeling there’ll be a shortage of greyhounds.” However, Carpenter noted fewer greyhound racetracks could lead to more out-of-state bets via simulcast wagering. “It’s possible. I don’t know for sure how it will affect us. Some of them closing may help us out, but I just hate to say that out loud,” he said.
Iowa Greyhound Park also faces the end of state-mandated subsidies from Dubuque’s Mystique Casino and Council Bluffs’ Horseshoe Casino. The Iowa legislature in 2014 passed a law allowing the two casinos to end greyhound racing as a condition of their casino licenses, in exchange for paying a combined total of $5.1 million to the Iowa Greyhound Association, the nonprofit group that runs Dubuque’s track. Iowa law had required those casinos to offer dog races as a condition of their casino licenses.
It’s unclear now how the greyhound park will continue to fund the $2 million-plus in purses it has paid to winners annually. In 2018, the track brought in about $1.2 million in on-track betting; the track keeps a portion to fund purses and operations. Combined on-track betting at Dubuque and Council Bluffs dropped by 97 percent, from $186 million in 1986 to $5.9 million in 2012.
The racetrack receives a smaller share of bets placed by out-of-state gamblers, which totaled $5.5 million in 2018—a 60 percent increase over last year, mainly due to changing race post times, allowing more spectators to virtually observe Dubuque’s races while other tracks were inactive. “Basically, we weren’t competing with as many tracks,” Carpenter said.
Regarding the end of casino payments, Keith Miller, a Drake University law professor who researches and writes about gambling laws, said, “One would hope that they would have seen years ago that breeding greyhounds in the state for racing really wasn’t going to be a very profitable undertaking much longer. “They’ve gotten pretty good warning that this is probably going to end sooner rather than later.” However, Miller noted, “The people who have represented them have shown some real resilience in representing them and finding a way to keep them in business.”
National Greyhound Association Executive Director James Gartland also believes the Dubuque racetrack can survive the end of racing in Florida, but some changes will be required. “Not knowing what’s going to happen down the road in Florida, they may have to look at adjusting their schedule or changing their routines. But I think it’s doing fairly well holding its own.” He added trainers and breeders across the U.S. will be affected; many will reduce their operations or even leave the business, including hobby breeders.
“There will be thousands and thousands of people that are going to lose jobs because of this,” said Iowa Greyhound Association board member and greyhound breeder Tim Ertl. He said lower numbers of greyhounds will affect the bottom line for full-time breeders who will try to adjust. “They devalued everything in the industry. Dog trucks lost value. All your equipment lost value. Your greyhounds lost value,” Ertl said.
Still, Iowa Greyhound Association Legal Counsel Jerry Crawford noted, “The truth is that it’s very hard for greyhound racing, even for horseracing, to compete head-to-head against slot machines.” He said changing consumer habits and the uncertain financial future are greyhound racing’s major challenges, not the Florida closures. “But I also think it’s too soon to know the answer,” he said.
