Greyhound racing nearing its end in the US after long slide

Source: Associated Press

Greyhound racing nearing its end in the US after long slide

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
May 2, 2022

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Vera Rasnake laughed as she led a trio of barking, jostling dogs into the Iowa Greyhound Park, but her smile faded when she acknowledged that after 41 years of being around the sleek animals, her sport was teetering on extinction.

After the end of a truncated season in Dubuque in May, the track here will close. By the end of the year there will only be two tracks left in the country.

“It’s very hard for me to see this,” Rasnake said.

It’s been a long slide for greyhound racing, which reached its peak in the 1980s when there were more than 50 tracks across 19 states. Since then, increased concerns about how the dogs are treated along with an explosion of gambling options have nearly killed a sport that gained widespread appeal about a century ago.

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