MIAMI (AP) — A mural-sized photograph at Flagler Dog Track celebrates the good old days, decades gone:
Men and women in their finest clothes lean against the fence to catch a glimpse of the greyhounds, the
stands emblazoned with red, white and blue bunting, radio men perched in a booth to bring the action to
fans at home.
Outside, on a recent Wednesday afternoon, the trumpet sounded, the track announcer introduced the dogs,
and almost no one was there to see it. Only a couple dozen patrons looked down from the 7,000-seat
grandstand.
“On a good day we can have 100 people on the stands, and they are mostly smokers who come out from the
casino floor,” said Isadore “Izzy” Havenick, whose family has owned the track since 1953.
The dog racing business, at once doomed and propped up by casino gambling, has come to a crossroads.
Greyhound racing’s decline began years ago with the spread of casino-style gambling. To appease track
operators, states gave them fat subsidies from the new gambling revenue.
The tracks themselves jumped into the casino business too, with licenses that often forced them to offer
a minimum number of race days, an arrangement called “coupling.”
But betting on live racing has fallen from almost $1 billion in 1990 to $258 million last year in
Florida, home to 12 of the 21 tracks that regularly hold live dog races in the U.S.
The races have become a never-watched sideshow to the profitable poker rooms and slot machines.
The owners of many tracks — along with ghost tracks that now offer only simulcast racing — are hoping to
survive long enough for states to let them drop the facade of dog racing altogether and just run
casinos.
Lawmakers, mindful of the interests of deep-pocketed casino operators who don’t want the unfettered
competition, seem to have other ideas.
Last year, West Virginia lawmakers rejected a bill pushed by one of the state’s two dog tracks to cut its
licensing fees by more than half and to reduce the minimum number of race days.
Two months ago, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed a bill that will shutter one of the state’s two tracks by
2016.
Florida, which in 1931 was the first state to legalize wagering on greyhound racing, opted against a
measure in its most recent legislative session that would have allowed tracks to keep poker and slots
and ditch the racing. The plan, which proponents hope to revive in the session next year, is seen as an
expansion of gambling and faces opposition from gambling opponents and other competitors.
The “decoupling” movement has created an odd alliance between racetrack casino operators, who see the
races as a burden, and animal rights groups out to end greyhound racing altogether, much as they
succeeded in outlawing cockfighting several years ago.
“When decoupling passes, it will lead to a slow and gradual end” of the industry, said Carey Theil,
executive director of the anti-racing group Grey2K USA.
Dog racing’s troubles also could be a preview of things to come for the horse racing industry, which in
some states has identical laws tying it to casino gambling. Money bet at thoroughbred tracks dropped
from just over $15 billion in 2003 to less than $11 billion in 2013, according to the Jockey Club, an
industry clearinghouse.
Though stronger financially than dog racing, horse racing is also far more expensive to stage, and only a
handful of the biggest tracks are profitable without casinos to support them.
Some within the horse racing industry see decoupling laws as a threat to their own sport.
“They could set a dangerous precedent for all breeds of racing,” said Lonny Powell, the CEO of the
Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association, who worked for years as a regulator of dog races.

Melbourne Greyhound Park, a smaller track in central Florida, sees the biggest crowd each year during the
Kentucky Derby, when around 3,000 patrons turn up to watch the simulcast screens and place bets on the
horses.
Cashing in on those rare events is not enough for track operators. Promotional gimmicks such as “Doggy
Dinner Theater” and races with dogs named for celebrities have not worked, said Havenick, the Miami
track owner.
Reducing the number of races might help make them special events again, he suggested.
The death of dog racing would be the end of “a beautiful show,” said Duke Adkinson, a longtime fan who
came to Flagler — now part of Magic City Casino — with his preteen grandson Dillon to instill in him the
love for the races.
“Everyone who has not seen it live needs to come at least once if they like greyhounds,” Adkinson said,
surrounded by empty seats and aging faces.
State by state
Greyhound racing is illegal in 39 states, and waning interest and profits have shuttered racing in four
others. In most of the places where it continues, track operators want lawmakers to boost or continue to
boost their businesses.
Here is a look at the seven states with live greyhound racing:
ALABAMA
Two tracks, one in Birmingham and the other just outside Mobile, hold live racing year-round. Each is
regulated by a county racing commission rather than the state. The tracks are not required to report
greyhound injuries.
Mobile Greyhound Park is owned by the Poarch Creek Indian tribe’s gambling arm, which also runs three
casinos in Alabama and the Pensacola Greyhound Track and Poker Room in Florida’s Panhandle.
ARIZONA
The state’s lone track, Tucson Greyhound Park, holds live racing year-round.
In May, Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill that requires the track to report dog injuries to the Arizona
Department of Racing, effective this month.
ARKANSAS
Southland Park in West Memphis, adjacent to Memphis, Tennessee, opened in 1956. The state’s only track is
among the nation’s largest, with capacity to kennel about 2,000 greyhounds and an average of 6,000 races
a year, many with nine dogs per field.
Southland Park Racing and Gaming — the facility now includes a casino — answers to the Arkansas Racing
Commission, which also oversees horse tracks. As is standard at horse tracks, an on-site commission
veterinarian examines dogs that are pulled from a race due to injury and decides when they can return to
racing.
FLORIDA
The birthplace of greyhound wagering in the U.S. nearly 90 years ago, Florida has a dozen of the nation’s
21 active dog tracks. This spring, the Florida Legislature rejected a bill that would have ended the
requirement that dog tracks hold races on-site in order to keep their gambling permits for casino-style
games.
Lawmakers then considered and eventually also turned down a measure to require tracks to report all dog
injuries to the state. Reporting greyhound deaths became mandatory for Florida tracks last year.
IOWA
In May, Gov. Terry Branstad signed a bill that will shutter Bluffs Run Greyhound Park, part of a
Horseshoe casino complex in Council Bluffs, by 2016. The compromise law, similar to the one that failed
to pass in Florida, will allow the Iowa Greyhound Association to continue operating a track at the
Mystique Casino in Dubuque.
The new law also requires casinos that have long-subsidized the dog racing tracks to pay $72 million to
seed a retirement fund for dog owners and breeders and to help fund the association’s effort to operate
the races.
The two tracks report to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, which also oversees horse tracks.
Animals’ injuries must be reported to the state.
TEXAS
Gulf Greyhound Park near Galveston is the state’s only track with live racing, though two other tracks
that normally only offer simulcast racing have recently been allowed to hold brief, one-time-only meets.
The tracks report dog injuries to the Texas Racing Commission.
While the tracks do not offer slot machines, operators are asking the commission for the OK to install
slots-style devices that show video of old races and allow bettors to wager on those. The commission
could rule next month.
WEST VIRGINIA
Of the state’s four racetrack casinos, two run horses and two run greyhounds. Animals’ injuries must be
reported to the West Virginia Racing Commission.
Under pressure from recently opened gambling sites in neighboring states, operators of one of the tracks
asked lawmakers last year to slash their licensing fees for table games and reduce the minimum number of
days of live racing. The proposal didn’t pass, and this year, Gov. Ray Tomblin signed a bill that cut
subsidies to horse and greyhound breeders by 10 percent.
(Sources: Racing commissions, racetracks, American Greyhound Council, Grey2K, AP research.)