DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) - As spring slowly arrives in Dubuque, there are occasional signs of life at the city’s longtime dog-racing facility.
A skeleton crew keeps an eye on the dogs that already have arrived at Iowa Greyhound Park. In keeping with current social-distancing standards, the employees are at least 6 feet apart at all times.
Races are slated to begin in mid-May of this year. However, General Manager Brian Carpenter acknowledged that the spread of COVID-19 has placed that starting date in question.
“At this point, nobody really knows what is going to happen,” he told the Telegraph Herald.
Carpenter’s blunt assessment reflects both the immediate future and the long-term fate at Iowa Greyhound Park, the last remaining dog-racing park in Iowa.
The U.S. once was home to well over 50 greyhound parks and now boasts nine, a swift decline brought about by a combination of economics and animal welfare concerns.
In a twist of fate, the deterioration of greyhound racing on a national scale has temporarily propped up betting activities in Dubuque.
Iowa Greyhound Park collects the majority of its wagers from bettors from outside of the city. As the rapid closure of tracks leaves these bettors with fewer options, they are increasingly directing their bets to Dubuque’s track.
This phenomenon is among the many reasons why park leaders are bullish on the outlook for the next few years.
By the end of the year, there will be fewer than a half-dozen parks left in the nation.
“I don’t know if we’ll be the last one left standing,” said Carpenter, pausing momentarily to contemplate the future. “But we will be pretty close.”
At a time when much of the greyhound industry is in peril, Iowa Greyhound Park is poised to potentially enter the 2020 season riding a wave a momentum.
The total handle - or amount wagered - on races at the Dubuque facility reached $7.68 million in 2019, a 14% increase over the previous year. Wagering has increased in four consecutive years.
The steady increase is due to a sharp rise in the park’s “export handle,” which refers to the amount wagered on Dubuque races from bettors elsewhere. That figure ballooned to $6.4 million in 2019, compared with $5.5 million in 2018. That represents a 16% increase.
Carpenter said the 2020 racing schedule is virtually identical to that of the previous year, with 104 planned racing days beginning in mid-May and running through the first week of November.
“If we open up on time this year, I think (the handle) will be up again,” he said.
While the upward trajectory of wagering suggests positive trends, the longer-term outlook for Iowa Greyhound Park is not nearly as optimistic.
Carpenter said the park has finished in the black in recent years - but only because of a combined $5.1 million annual subsidy issued by a pair of Iowa casinos.
A settlement agreement reached in 2014 allowed Dubuque’s Mystique Casino & Resort - now Q Casino and Hotel - and the casino in Council Bluffs to sever ties with the greyhound industry.
In return, Council Bluffs agreed to pay an annual $4.6 million subsidy to Iowa Greyhound Park through 2022. Q Casino and Hotel has to pay $500,000 annually through 2021.
These subsidies provide a path forward for 2020 and the two following years, according to Carpenter. But the future beyond 2022 is riddled with uncertainty.
“We’re not in a position where we can survive financially on our own,” Carpenter said. “Our goal now is to get through the next three years. After that, I just don’t know what will happen.”
Iowa Greyhound Park leases the grandstand from the casino and rents the track itself from the City of Dubuque. The park paid just $1 per year to lease the track for the first five years and is paying a “market rate” for the second five-year term, which runs through the end of 2024.
To understand the area’s ongoing connection to greyhound racing, one must understand its lengthy history in Dubuque.
The first greyhound race in Dubuque was held on June 1, 1985. Opening day garnered attention through the state, with Gov. Terry Branstad even appearing in Dubuque to deliver an address to the crowd.
In Dubuque, the park’s opening represented more than an entertainment attraction. It was an economic shot in the arm for an area that sorely needed one.
Bruce Wentworth served as the park’s assistant general manager in 1985.
Part of his duties involved interviewing candidates for the positions available at the park. Officials conducted the interviews in Five Flags Center, where a massive throng of job-seekers lined up for blocks in hopes of landing a position.
“Back in ’85, there were a lot of people looking for work in Dubuque,” Wentworth said. “We had about 300 open positions, and we interviewed 6,000 people over the course of three days.”
Peggy Sue Hoppman was among those who landed a position. She served as a pari-mutuel clerk on the park’s opening day in 1985 and has retained that position ever since.
She still recalls the frenzied response on opening day, noting than many eager Dubuquers were new to the concepts of both wagering and racing and faced a steep learning curve.
For months on end, consumers flocked from hundreds of miles away.
“The lines did not stop,” Hoppman recalled. “We had 20 or 30 buses a day that came in from everywhere - from the Quad Cities, the Rockford area, all of the surrounding communities.”
Wentworth said opening the track proved to be “a great move for the city.” He noted that the facility attracted millions of tourists over the years.
Thomas “TC” Christianson served as the racing announcer for more than two decades before retiring in 2018. He describes himself as “a fan in the stands” and said he routinely got to work early to shoot the breeze with those at the park, from the kennel owners to the security guards.
Christianson has come to know many people in the industry, both in Dubuque and beyond. And as racing comes to a close in some states, he worries about its fate here.
“If racing were to go, I think a part of Dubuque would go with it,” he said. “It would leave a big hole.”
For greyhound enthusiasts in the state of Florida, this year was supposed to represent a farewell tour of sorts.
In 2018, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment to eliminate greyhound racing at the conclusion of the 2020 season. The arrival of COVID-19 accelerated that timetable.
Jack Cory, of Public Affairs Consultants Inc. in Tallahassee, represents the greyhound industry in the state. He said the novel coronavirus forced many tracks to shut their doors prematurely.
Other tracks are currently shuttered with the intention of reopening later this year.
The sudden closures have added to the chaos.
“It was already going to be pandemonium. COVID-19 just created more pandemonium,” said Cory. “This isn’t like shutting down a restaurant or an office building. There are still several thousand greyhounds that need to be fed tomorrow morning and fed tonight.”
One track, located in Naples, is hosting races without any fans in the grandstand.
Cory noted that many of the dogs currently running at the crowdless track will make their way from the Sunshine State to Dubuque when the weather warms.
These dogs’ journeys underscore the interconnected nature of the greyhound industry, where canines often split their years between multiple tracks in various parts of the country.
The demise of the greyhound industry in Florida could spell trouble for greyhounds in Dubuque.
Carpenter fears there could be a lack of dogs within a few years.
“With fewer and fewer places to send the dogs, I think people may stop breeding,” he said.
Dubuque native Jason Hess doesn’t know life without greyhound racing.
His parents owned a greyhound kennel when Jason was a kid, and he spent many years traveling around with the dogs as they raced in locations such as Florida, West Virginia and Dubuque.
“I enjoy the greyhounds,” he said. “They are always happy to see you, they put you in a good mood, and they’re enjoyable to be around.”
His first job involved working as a helper in a kennel. Hess climbed the industry ladder, working as an assistant trainer and then a trainer and ultimately becoming an owner.
Today, he and his brother co-own Xtrem Hess Racing, one of nine kennels that compete at Iowa Greyhound Park. Hess also owns a greyhound farm in Pacific Junction, Iowa, where he breeds dogs that eventually will join his kennel team.
“It is a lifestyle, not a job,” he said. “You have to work seven days a week for the most part. It doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas or any other holiday. The dogs have to be taken care of.”
Q Casino now is six years into its seven-year stretch of subsidizing greyhound operations.
Casino CEO Jesus Aviles said the subsidy agreement was a way to provide “a parachute” to ensure a soft landing for those employed in the greyhound industry.
Since that pact, the casino and greyhound operations have remained physically connected but largely separate. Aviles said there isn’t much spillover between the two entities.
If greyhound racing ultimately ends in Dubuque, there could be a variety of uses for the vast swath of land. Over the years, officials have contemplated using the area as an entertainment venue or simply transforming it into a green space that beautifies the area.
With COVID-19 changing financial realities, and the park forging ahead for the foreseeable future, Aviles said those types of plans are on hold.
“They’ve been a good tenant for us, and we wish them luck with their future,” he said.
As some fret over the future of racing, others are hoping to see the sport come to an end.
Carey Theil is the executive director of Grey2K USA Worldwide, an organization seeking to bring an end to dog racing. His organization argues that greyhounds are kept in confinement and exposed to cruel and inhumane practices.
“The dogs in this industry are treated in a way that doesn’t align with the country’s values,” said Theil.
Those who have grown up in the industry dismiss that assessment.
Hess argues that those who take the time to explore conditions in kennels often walk away satisfied.
He points to recent events in West Virginia - where lawmakers examined conditions in kennels and ultimately approved the continuation of racing - as proof that greyhounds are treated better than many suggest.
“A lot of people who oppose greyhound racing have never been to a kennel to see it for themselves,” he said.
As that debate continues, the number of dog parks faces a dramatic decline.
The cessation of Florida greyhound racing will leave fewer than a half-dozen tracks nationwide: two in West Virginia and one each in Arkansas, Texas and, of course, Iowa. The lone track in Alabama announced last week that it will permanently end greyhound racing.
In the short term, this could lead to a bump in Dubuque wagering numbers.
“We have seen this repeated cycle where some tracks close and the ones that remain are temporarily strengthened,” said Theil. “The overall betting amount declines, but there is a partial recirculation of dollars that helps the tracks that are still running.”
Despite this presumed uptick, Theil believes the writing is on the wall for the industry.
“In any scenario, I think we are looking at a three-to-seven-year window before greyhound racing is gone,” said Theil.
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