There are two dog racing tracks in Iowa—there should be none. Racing is not profitable for the tracks, attendance is low, revenues have decreased radically over the years, and the racing dogs suffer tremendously.
Iowa law currently requires businesses with gambling licenses to also operate Greyhound tracks. This forced union of two unrelated forms of gambling makes no sense and inflicts unnecessary cruelty on Greyhounds, who spend their racing lives cruelly confined, suffer terrible injuries, and often are killed once they are no longer profitable.
Instead of forcing taxpayers to cover the cost of regulating dog racing tracks that businesses don’t even want, the state should “decouple” Greyhound racing from other forms of gambling. If businesses weren’t forced to make these dogs run, thousands of Greyhounds would be spared from this barbaric and inhumane activity this year and in the future.
