Florida legislature misses an opportunity to drop greyhound racing

Last week, an amendment to a Florida Senate bill could have given track operators the option of ending live dog racing.

A recent post on Broward Palm Beach.com’s blog section noted –  “…current law requires tracks to race dogs at least 180 days a year in order to legally operate slot machines or poker rooms.”

Unfortunately and inexplicably, the measure was not allowed a vote.

This is another of the many problems I have with greyhound racing. In some states, these requirements have been in place. So not only has the industry been protected by certain states, but the laws have gone so far as to force the sites to hold races.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another industry that has this degree of protection, to a point where state law requires the industry to exist – beyond say a utility or something on that order.

And then there is the following from the blog entry – “Without subsidies from slot machines and poker rakes, the industry likely would have gone bankrupt long ago.”

So greyhound racing gets subsidies, is required by law in Florida and is protected by the state like few to no other industries? Can this be right?  And on top of all this is the horrible life the dogs are forced to live – and the fact that greyhound racing is adding thousands of dogs each year to the homeless population problem nationwide.

How is it that greyhound racing gets so much from a few state governments such as Florida? I’m sure there are a host of other industries that only wish they were afforded such protections.