And maybe elsewhere soon

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

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 the greatest number of tracks at 13. There are 23 in the U.S.

The U.S. Humane Society said New Hampshire’s law bans “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. Then, 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 makes 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,” 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. “Our proximity to New York means 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 dog tracks 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 fed and maintained greyhounds. Rules were enacted that subsidized racetracks via 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 to lobby against dog racing. It helped write the bans 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 jailed for dog fighting. In 2002, authorities discovered the remains of as many as 3,000 greyhounds on an Alabama farm across the Florida line. A former racetrack security guard and one-time greyhound breeder admitted to killing them for money over the course of 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.”

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