Greyhound Racing Eats Dust in Florida as the Sport Nears Extinction in USA

After nearly a century of the greyhound racing sport in Florida, the last race in the history of the sport in Florida was held on New Year’s Eve at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. At the stroke of midnight, Bug Brush, one of the fastest pooches of its era did the honor of winning the very last race of the sport in the Sunshine State. This marked an official end to one of the most celebrated gambling staples in Florida.

The ‘farewell’ race took place because back in November 2018, the residents of Florida overwhelmingly voted in favor of Amendment 13 with a 69% majority. It is a constitutional amendment that would make greyhound racing-and all other forms of dog racing for that matter illegal in the Sunshine State by the beginning of 2021. From then on, nine dog racing tracks in the state ended the practice one by one, and this left the state two active tracks with about 1,200 dogs.  The last two; St. Petersburg’s Derby Lane closed on 27th December 2020, whereas Palm Beach Kennel Club, finally ended the practice at 11:59 pm on 31st December 2020 when the Amendment 13 that bans the sport became active.

Now that the Sunshine State has given dog racing the chop, there are only three states across the USA where the sport still legal; Iowa, Arkansas, and West Virginia. This effectively cuts down the number of active dog racing tracks in the US from a total of 17 since Amendment 13 was passed in 2018 to only 4 as we speak. 11 of the country’s dog racing tracks were in Florida whereas 2 tracks, one in Alabama and the other in Texas were closed due to the dwindling popularity of the sport in the respective states.

Dog Racing in the USA Has Been Facing Pushback from Animal Rights Activists

Florida’s first greyhound track was constructed back in 1922 but dog racing itself was not officially legalized by the state for almost another decade until 1931. The legislature approved the sport during the Great Depression in a bid to bring in more revenue for the state and since then, Florida became a mecca for greyhound racing for close to a century.

By the late 1980s, there were over 60 greyhound tracks across the US, cutting across different states including New Mexico, Vermont, Oregon, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Kansas, Idaho, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, and Connecticut.  However, the popularity of the sport started dwindling in the ’90s after animal rights activists started condemning the inhumane working conditions of the dogs and the suffering they have to undergo in their cramped-up kennels.

One by one, different states started banning the practice leading to the closure of the greyhound racing tracks countrywide. Right now, 41 states in the country have outlawed the sport as anti-dog racing lobbyists continue pushing for a federal ban. Meanwhile, Iowa and Arkansas will also be closing their commercial racetracks by the end of 2022 and that will leave only West Virginia which will have the only two commercial dog tracks active in the country.

Revenue Decline is Also Hurting the Sport's Longevity 

The animal rights lobby groups aside, the dog racing sport has been crashing over the past couple of years, and one of the biggest indicators of this decline is the revenue slump. By the end of 2020 for instance, dog racing tracks in Florida fetched about $136 million in wagers, nearly 30% less than 2019’s handle which stood at roughly $192 million.

Before we are too quick to point fingers at Florida’s Amendment 13 which was approved in 2018, the revenue has been going down a slippery slope since 2012 when the state’s tracks racked up over $265 million worth of wagers. Mind you, the Sunshine State is where the sport has the largest fanbase in the country. The same pattern has also been observed in Iowa and Arkansas for at least three consecutive years, with Arkansas reporting its lowest handle in a decade last year.

With Florida out of the picture and Iowa and Arkansas planning to exit the dog-racing world soon, how long will West Virginia last in the ring alone? How long will it take before the curtain finally closes on the sport in the country? Only time will tell.