On 50th birthday, greyhound track’s prognosis poor

The Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track in Bonita Springs will turn 50 Thursday.

How long it will survive after that remains in question.

A variety of factors has seen attendance, which peaked in the mid-1980s with nightly crowds of 8,000, dwindle to less than 1,000 on an average night.

Most significant reasons:

• The Florida Lottery.

• Increased access to other gambling venues, such as the Hard Rock Casino resorts in Hollywood and Tampa.

• Pressure from animal-rights groups.

“That track was a special spot for us,” said one of the track’s owners, Izzy Havenick, who will turn 30 on the same day the track turns 50. “It was our vacationing spot. It was the place where we spent our holidays. We spent so many happy occasions there.”

Greyhound racing’s most rabid fans are dying off and young people are passing up the sport for higher payoffs and faster-paced action in casino gambling.

Other, more disturbing headlines haven’t helped the sport regain its footing, either. Reports of dogs being prematurely killed — some in barbaric manners — cast an unwanted spotlight on the industry in the past decade despite efforts of some dog owners.

And the industry’s own greed may have played a part in its downward spiral, said Pete Wedeles, the 70-year-old operations manager who has been with the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track since 1960.

Havenick, who operates the track along with his mother Barbara, the CEO, and fellow vice president and younger brother Alex, knows it faces an unpredictable future.

“Back before simulcasting, people were there for the dogs. It was exciting. Every part of that building was open and everyone was focused on dog racing,” he said. “Now it’s poker, horses and then dogs.”

If it weren’t for the track’s poker room, Torsten Josupeit, a 39-year-old Cape Coral resident, said he would never make the trip to Bonita Springs.

New age, new era

It’s a new age and a new era and finding ways to bring back excitement to greyhound racing is going to be the industry’s toughest challenge, Havenick said.

“If you look at my generation — everything is now,” he said. “With our grandparents, they waited until the evening news to find out what was happening in the world. With us, we can find out immediately on the Internet. It’s the same with racing. We don’t want to wait 15 minutes for the next race to start.”

Susan Netboy, founder and president of the Greyhound Protection League, is happy the younger generation doesn’t have the patience.

“Young people recognize it’s exploiting the dogs and won’t spend their money there,” she said. “And it’s too boring for them. Betting on greyhounds takes time and the only people who have time to bet the dogs are the old-timers — and they’re not going to be around for much longer.

“If the greyhound tracks get slot machines, they might survive. Without them, they’ll be gone in 10 years,” Netboy said.

Netboy may be right. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, nine of 10 people in the grandstand appeared to be 60 or older and only a handful appeared to be 35 or younger. Most of the younger people were huddled around a table in the upstairs poker room.

They were people like Levi McNeil, 26, of Kassom, Minn. He was at the track earlier this week — but not because of the dogs.

He was there for the simulcast horse races and the entertainment.

With increased competition, especially with the Seminoles and their plan to bring Las Vegas-style casino gaming to Immokalee, Havenick is clinging to the hope some day soon his tracks will be able to follow suit.

“I think dog racing will survive — as long as there’s other things going on in the building,” he said. “We’re not going to roll over and play dead. As of right now, it’s business as usual.”

The history

At one time there were close to 30 greyhound racetracks in Florida. That number has dwindled to 13.

“I think a few things have happened,” said Havenick, who runs his family operation from the Flagler Dog Track in Miami. “A lot of these tracks were family-run businesses and when land values in Florida began to skyrocket, a lot of these owners who were getting old — or their children, who didn’t want to be in the business — decided to sell.”

Netboy maintains the industry’s wounds are self-inflicted and points to 1991 when it was discovered losing greyhounds were being shipped to the Army Institute of Research for experiments.

“It opened a Pandora’s box,” Netboy said. “Because of the attention, the Army was forced to release 19 dogs.

“I think that the amount of bad publicity (dog racing) has received over the years really hurt it. The racing industry even fessed up that some 50,000 were being put to sleep each year,” she said. “In the early ’90s, abuse cases were popping up left and right. But I also think if it wasn’t for all the bad publicity, the industry wouldn’t have improved. They still have a long way to go.”

Netboy, however, doesn’t believe it will ever get that far.

“I don’t see much hope for it,” she said. “If you asked me a few years ago if I thought I’d see the end of dog racing in my lifetime, I would have said no. Now I do”

The future

Wedeles, the 70-year-old operations manager, also doesn’t see much of a future for greyhound racing.

“We probably peaked in the mid-1980s,” Wedeles said. “It’s very close to being on life support. I don’t think, on its own, it can survive. Maybe part of the blame is the industry itself and its failure to change with the times — or that it didn’t change enough.”

Some form of change is inevitable, Havenick said.

“There are people who love the dogs and will always support it, but you have to change with society,” said Havenick, who is a supporter of greyhound adoption and has been actively involved in it for years.

“There is no question we have to do something to make it more interesting again.

Maybe it’s speeding up the time between races ... or maybe it’s shortening the racing season and increasing the purses.”

Al DuBoice, 74, of Port Charlotte, recalls the halcyon days of greyhound racing. He was one of the 1,500 people to attend the opening of the track 50 years ago. DuBoice remembers the excitement surrounding the track in its heyday.

He remembers people talking about certain dogs far away from the track, reading stories about dogs, trainers and owners in The News-Press and he remembers how people used to jam the racetrack when it was the only gambling option around.

“I remember when every (teller) window was open and you still couldn’t get your bets in because there were so many people here,” he said. “Now they have to do something to survive. If it wasn’t for poker and simulcasting, I don’t think they would have survived this long.”

The missteps

While enthusiasm for dog racing has waned for a number of reasons, perhaps none is more interesting than the series of missteps the industry has taken along the way.

Those missteps include the advent of exotic wagering that ultimately led to more losers than winners at the betting windows, and its failure to monitor practices of animal abuse within the sport, said Netboy and Wedeles.

Another misstep is running the dogs year-round. In greyhound racing’s beginnings, the dogs raced for a certain period of time — about 90 days — and then the track would close until the following winter and spring.

“It’s not a special event any more when you’re running year-round,” said Wilma Edwards, a 67-year-old owner/trainer at the track.

“It’s just not an attraction anymore,” DuBoice said. “When people used to come down for the winters, people made it a point to go to the track. I don’t think that happens much anymore.”

News Added: 25 December, 2007

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