In just the past four months, 18 greyhounds have tested positive for cocaine at Bestbet Orange Park near Jacksonville, Florida—with 12 of those dogs led by a single trainer. The scandal has led Orange Park Mayor Scott Land to call for decoupling greyhound racing from poker or other forms of gambling. Under current state law, card rooms must offer greyhound or horse racing and/or simulcasting of nationwide races.
Land said the negative publicity surrounding the recent dog-doping plus greyhound racing in general “it isn’t the image I want for the city.” He already has been discussing with other city officials regarding how to redevelop the area if dog racing should end. However, closing both the racetrack and the card room would impact the local economy; therefore, Land is calling for decoupling the two activities.
Since 2001, state law has required any poker room with a card room license to offer a full racing or simulcasting schedule; 90 percent of the schedule must be run in order for the card room to maintain its license. Over the past decade, however, racing revenue has declined while card room revenue has increased.
For the fiscal year that ended in June, racing revenue dropped about 52 percent to $717,556,879 since the facilities started offering poker in 2005. Racing revenue was $750,622,947 last year. Poker room revenue fell 5.8 percent to $156,311,014 in fiscal year 2017.
Of the 19 dog racetracks that still exist in the U.S., 12 are located in Florida and all of them also have a poker room. Legislators have discussed reducing the race schedules at dog tracks but still allowing poker rooms to operate, but that proposal hasn’t moved forward.
