Will Iowa's last greyhound racing track forge ahead or falter after Florida bans sport?

Already marching toward an uncertain financial future, Iowa's only remaining greyhound racing track faces even bigger questions after Florida decided earlier this month to ban the sport. 

In the Nov. 6 midterm election, Floridians approved a constitutional amendment that eliminates greyhound racing by 2021 — dooming 11 of the nation's 17 remaining greyhound tracks. The closing is expected to dramatically affect the numbers of dogs at breeders and kennels across the U.S. 

"People won't breed as many greyhounds," said Brian Carpenter, general manager of Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque, the state's last dog track. "So down the road, I have a feeling there'll be a shortage of greyhounds."

Florida's campaign to end greyhound racing was waged around concerns for animal rights, though industry insiders there and here insist racing dogs are treated well. 

Many of Florida's tracks operate in winter months, when tracks in colder climates such as Dubuque's sit empty. Because greyhounds race yearlong, many migrate between colder and warmer climates. 

"They’re not going to breed a dog if it can only run half the year," Carpenter said. 

But while Florida's ban is bad for the sport, Carpenter said there might be a silver lining for Iowa's greyhound park: With fewer tracks nationwide, remaining facilities such as Dubuque's could draw more out-of-state bets through simulcast wagering. 

"It’s possible. I don't know for sure how it will affect us," Carpenter said. "Some of them closing may help us out, but I just hate to say that out loud."

'If you don't have any greyhounds to race, there isn't much you can do'

Even before the Florida vote, Iowa Greyhound Park faced a huge obstacle: Its state-mandated subsidies from two casinos are set to run out soon.

In 2014, Iowa lawmakers struck a deal with Dubuque's casino and Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs in which the two agreed to pay out millions of dollars annually in exchange for being allowed to ditch greyhound racing. Iowa law had required those casinos to offer dog races as a condition of their casino licenses.

Those funds go to the Iowa Greyhound Association, the nonprofit group that runs Dubuque's track.

The $5.1 million in annual payments has helped to keep the Dubuque track afloat, and it's unclear how the greyhound park will continue to fund the more than $2 million in purses it has paid each year to winners.

In 2018, the track brought in about $1.2 million in on-track betting — a portion of which the track keeps to fund purses and operations. Millions more were bet by out-of-state gamblers, though the track receives a smaller share of those pots.

"There wouldn't be enough incentive without it," Brian Ohorilko, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, said of the casino payments. "That supplement would have to be made up."

And the association faces cost increases as it renegotiates leases: The group currently leases the track and grandstand area for $1 each per year, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald reported. It has already agreed to a $58,000 annual track lease and is negotiating a new grandstand lease.

"I think most people think it will be extremely difficult to sustain, at least at the current level," Ohorilko said. 

Still, Carpenter, the track's manager, is more worried by what's happening 1,400 miles to the southeast.

"You’re always worried about financials, but in reality I'm more scared about not having enough dogs these days with the Florida vote," he said. "If you don't have any greyhounds to race, there isn't much you can do."

'The truth is that it’s very hard for greyhound racing'

Carpenter said the greyhound association's board is examining its options and finances as it prepares for the end of the casino payments.

But the wider industry faces strong headwinds: While greyhound racing was popular in Iowa when it was launched in the mid-1980s, betting and attendance have plunged in recent years. 

Combined betting on greyhound races in Dubuque and Council Bluffs dropped from $186 million in 1986 to $5.9 million in 2012 — a 97 percent decline. By 2018, on-track betting barely topped $1.2 million at Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque. 

"The truth is that it’s very hard for greyhound racing, even for horse racing, to compete head-to-head against slot machines," said Des Moines attorney Jerry Crawford, legal counsel for the Iowa Greyhound Association board. "Many people love to play slot machine — it's quick action, it's a mindless activity in many ways."

Crawford said changing consumer habits and the shaky financial future are the sport's biggest challenges in Iowa — not the Florida ban. 

"But I also think it’s too soon to know the answer," he said about the long-term future of the Dubuque track. 

Still, 2018 was an exceptionally good year at Iowa Greyhound Park. The total export handle — bets placed on Dubuque races from out-of-state gamblers — grew by more than 60 percent to about $5.5 million this year. Profits from virtual betting are lower than on-track betting.

That growth was thanks in large part to changing race post times, which encouraged more spectators to virtually tune in to Dubuque's races while other tracks were quiet. 

"Basically, we weren't competing with as many tracks," Carpenter said.

'It's premature to say it's all over'

Florida tracks have until 2021 to wind down live racing. But some tracks already have announced they won't open this winter, said James Gartland, executive director of the National Greyhound Association.

He thinks Dubuque's track can survive the loss of Florida racing, but he said some changes likely will be necessary to keep it sustainable.

"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," Gartland said. "But I think it's doing fairly well holding its own."

Trainers and breeders will be affected across the country. Gartland said many will scale back their operations or leave the business. 

"There will be thousands and thousands of people that are going to lose jobs because of this," said Tim Ertl, who raises greyhounds in Dubuque and sits on the Iowa Greyhound Association's board. 

Ertl expects Florida's vote to weed out many of the hobby breeders in the business. And decreased capacity will hurt the bottom line of full-time breeders like himself who try to stick it out.

"They devalued everything in the industry," he said. "Dog trucks lost value. All your equipment lost value. Your greyhounds lost value."

Still, Iowa trainers and breeders have long known about the end of casino subsidies, said Keith Miller, a Drake University law professor who researches and writes about gambling laws.

"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," he said. "They've gotten pretty good warning that this is probably going to end sooner rather than later."

But Miller also said greyhound racing is not done in Iowa.

"The people who have represented them have shown some real resilience in representing them," he said, "and finding a way to keep them in business."

Greyhound racing in Iowa

• 1 — Tracks in Iowa (Iowa Greyhound Park in Dubuque)
• $1.2 million — On-track betting in 2018
• $5.5 million — Total bets placed on greyhound races by out-of-state gamblers in 2018

• $186 million — On-track betting on Iowa greyhound races in 1986.