The 2$ Suckers............

 

As a few mourn the end of greyhound racing in Florida, one needs to address the reason and forgo blaming others for the demise that the industry brought upon itself.

I will share some thoughts on couple of items that brought us to modern day, a day when pari-mutuel wagering on greyhound racing is on the verge of extinction in the United States.

1)    Failure to pass the Interstate Greyhound Racing Act:

The industry, through its own actions, was unable to drive the legislation that would have provided it a source of revenue from its own product. In the mid-1970's the industry was exposed on a national level as using live lure aka jacking by the news program 20/20 resulting in passage of the Interstate Greyhound Racing Act being impossible.

The industry was left without income from its own product, but a bone was tossed to them in the form of subsidies from card rooms and casinos.  The tracks are a business and as such are in business to make a profit and needed to find other sources of revenue to maintain a profitable business. Greyhound racing was no longer a must see/must attend form of entertainment for many. The entertainment dollars the tracks relied on suddenly had competition from newer forms of entertainment and chance.

2)   Lottery – Bigtime gamblers:

The lottery also played its part as the small-time gamblers shifted away from the fun, low risk $2 bet to purchasing a fun, low risk $2 lottery ticket that could be had far closer to their homes.  Big money gamblers need a pool of suckers who will blow 2 bucks to prop up the pool and make it a worthwhile to bet big. Each year the big money gamblers have shifted away from greyhound racing or died and with no new people filling their shoes, the track is not making as much on live racing as they once did. The numbers regarding the decline of big money gamblers is eye opening. 

(Note:  big money gambler for the purpose of this blog is defined as someone who bets $100,000 or more a year)

3) Did the subsidies from casinos and card rooms prop up existence?

Without the subsidies from casinos and card rooms, would the tracks even been able to offer more than $15-$30 a point? Even if the Interstate Greyhound Racing Act had passed, would today’s gambling and entertainment environment allow for the tracks to offer decent money for each point solely based on the live racing product? Just a few things to think about.