Senate Panel Backs Greyhound Simulcasts Senator Says Horse Racing Jobs At Stake If The Upcoming Ban On Simulcast Dog Racing Is Not Lifted
Greyhound advocates felt the sting of a 5-3 vote Friday as legislators approved a plan to allow greyhound simulcast racing to continue in Idaho, seeking to override a law that would end the practice this year.
“The racing people may have won this battle,” said Virginia McKean, a member of the Greyhound Protection League. “But in the end, they’re going to lose the war.”
McKean was one of dozens of greyhound owners who testified against legislation that would lift the ban on greyhound racing in Idaho. The ban is effective July 1, unless it gets overturned.
The July deadline affects gambling operations in Boise, Jerome, Malad, Pocatello and the Coeur d’Alene Greyhound Park in Post Falls. About 20 percent of the $12 million wagered annually in Post Falls comes from dog racing.
Managers of the Post Falls facility fear a ban on simulcasts will hurt business and prompt layoffs.
Sen. Clyde Boatright, R-Rathdrum, told the Senate State Affairs committee the ban will also endanger the “economic viability” of horse racing in Idaho.
Dog simulcasts are shown at Idaho’s four live horse racing venues. Their operators fear the loss of simulcast dog racing will hurt their business.
Representatives from the horse racing industry were in full force at Friday’s hearing. They wore buttons urging lawmakers to “save the horse industry” by passing the bill.
Tim Elison, a horse owner and breeder, claimed that dog simulcasts provided 10 percent of his total take from the track. “We can’t suffer another cut,” Elison told the committee.
McKean said the greyhound abuse was a big enough issue to pass legislation banning live racing in 1996, ultimately even phase out simulcasting. But this year, she said, the issue of animal abuse has taken a back seat to economic factors.
Jim Fry, the executive director of the Texas Greyhound Association, said he was “in awe” of McKean’s testimony which detailed the history of abuse in greyhound racing. Many of Idaho’s simulcast dog races come from Texas.
Idaho banned live dog racing in 1996, citing complaints about animal cruelty at the Post Falls facility.
“The things that happened here - if they happened at all - were isolated incidents,” said Fry. He assured legislators that kind of treatment does not occur at the tracks in Texas.
That’s why, he said, there is no reason to ban simulcasting the races in Idaho.
The dog racing bill will be debated by the full Senate sometime next week.
In the House, Rep. Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint, has an alternate plan to cut off dog simulcasts, but still allow horse racing simulcasts to continue.
Last year, $2.4 million was spent on dog race simulcasts in Post Falls, but much more - $8.7 million - was bet on horses.
Stoicheff, whose bill won unanimous support from a House committee on Friday, says his plan would keep Greyhound Park jobs in Post Falls without supporting the dog racing trade. He has called dog racing a “blood sport” that must end.