Live Dog Racing May Disappear from New Hampshire

New Hampshire’s two greyhound racetracks are going to stop hosting live races this year.

They’re stopping because the state has lifted a requirement from 1991 that allowed simulcasting only at live racing tracks.

“Previously we were required to run fifty calendar days of live racing in order to offer simulcasting. And now the option to run live racing will rest with the racetracks.”

That’s Rick Newman, the spokesperson for The Lodge at Belmont.

Simulcasting has been quite successful for dog tracks.

The video feed from live races that comes streaming into the track site allows customers to bet in a much larger pool.

And that means bigger purses.

In the meantime, says Newman, bets on live dog races at the Lodge have dropped to less than one percent of all the wagers at the track.

“It probably stopped being profitable in the mid-nineties”

And Newman says that even though live racing has a following…

“The main thing that may have kept it going here is the fact that there was a statutory requirement.”

But because the tracks had to have live racing, the state had to pay the cost of regulating those races.

Senator Sheila Roberge points out that the extra tax revenue from betting on live dogs did not cover the regulatory expenses.

“It was costing the taxpayers $500,000 a year just to administer the racing.”

Roberge also says track owners told legislators that ending live racing would not hurt employment in the state.

“They came out and said they would be fine with it. It wasn’t going to cost any jobs or any positions at all to end the live part of the racing, the dog part of the racing.”

So unlike previous battles over dog racing in New Hampshire, the track owners actually lobbied to end the requirements for live racing.

Carey Theil is the Executive Director of Grey2K USA, which opposes greyhound racing.

He says that a confluence of interests pushed for live racing’s natural demise.

“The track owners were no longer making money. The state was no longer making money. This was just an industry that was no longer viable.”

Theil says changing the law was a significant step towards ending what he calls an inhumane practice.

“This is a proud day for everyone in the state who cares about animals.”

But Karen Keelan, President of Seabrook Greyhound Park, says a lot of racing fans, including herself, will miss the live dog races.

“I am very sad to see it go. It’s a tradition in New Hampshire as well as in other states, and it’s very disappointing for all of us.”

She also says that she expects to lose some customers who used to come specifically for live races.

But Salvatore Marchiese, a customer at Belmont, is not one of them.

“It was really a dying industry, you know. And I guess it’s just as well it’s gone.”

Marchiese comes to the Lodge for the simulcast horse races.

He says he never bet on the dogs because they don’t pay enough.

But his wife does bet on them.

When asked if she’ll miss dog racing, Marchiese says:

“Well she can always bet the simulcast down in Florida and other places.”

For NHPR News, I’m Phil Sletten.