Consider changes to greyhound racing

For years, Iowa law has required racetrack casinos in Council Bluffs and in Dubuque to use gaming revenues to supplement purses awarded to winning greyhounds.

But now at least one company says that money could be better spent in the public interest.

The purse supplement is negotiated by the businesses and the Iowa Greyhound Association. Last year, it totaled close to $12 million for both racetrack casinos, Des Moines-based attorney Jim Carney, who represents Harrah's Entertainment Inc., told us this week.

Harrah's has asked state legislators allow the casinos pay those millions to the state instead.

They should strongly consider the idea.

We understand that discontinuing the supplement could spell the end for greyhound racing in Iowa - there's agreement that the sport isn't popular enough to stand on its own.

Greyhound breeders say the change would take money away from dozens of registered and licensed greyhound farms and hundreds of Iowa greyhound owners - jeopardizing $26 million in wages and $77 million in total annual economic activity.

But legislators must weigh the question of whether it's in the public's interest to compel businesses to subsidize the greyhound industry.

Carney told us he thinks it's wasteful not to let Iowa's racetrack casinos evolve.

“It's a dead sport,” he said. “No one goes, no one wagers on it anymore.”

The Las Vegas-based Harrah's commissioned a study which found that from 1995 to 2008, about $140 million in revenues from slot machines and table games went to subsidize the greyhound racing purses.

About 42 percent of the kennels and owners collecting the money were from out of state. There's no question the state could use the money.

“We'd rather give 100 percent of it to the state of Iowa and have it go to public purpose,” Carney said.

It's true that both casinos probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for greyhound racing. In fact, Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Administrator Jack P. Ketterer told us this week, they were only allowed to add other types of gaming in the mid-90s in order to help their bottom lines.

That's when legislators wrote in requirements that the two casinos supplement the purses and hold a minimum number of racing days.

Iowa Greyhound Association Board Member Brad Boeckenstedt told us this week that the fear the tracks eventually would want to drop racing for gaming is exactly the reason why.

He said Harrah's proposal would hit hard a number of small businesses and real Iowans.

“It would hurt the industry substantially,” he said. That's unfortunate.

But the question for lawmakers is whether it's in our collective best interest to preserve the greyhound industry in Iowa.