Types of Greyhound Wagering in the US

Gambling on greyhound races in the United States is conducted through three means: live wagering, simulcast wagering, and advance deposit wagering. Wagering on dog racing has undergone a catastrophic decline from the industry’s peak of $3.5 billion in 1991. Host states receive pennies on the dollar in taxes for bets placed.

Percentages for each form of wagering in 2022

Live wagering on dog racing

Patrons can go to a track to watch and wager on a live greyhound race at one of the two remaining dog tracks in the United States. These two tracks are Wheeling Island Casino Racetrack and Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, both located in West Virginia.

In 2023, $8,819,511 was wagered live on these two dog tracks. In 2022, live wagering accounted for 4% of all greyhound betting in the United States.

Simulcast wagering on dog racing

Gamblers can bet remotely on greyhound races taking place at other tracks through a practice called simulcast wagering. There will typically be a simulcasting area at each track, where televisions broadcast live races occurring at other facilities around the country and even around the world. Foreign dog tracks are increasingly looking to the American market as a commercial opportunity to broadcast their signals.

Greyhound simulcast betting is legal and operational in the seventeen states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Three of these states have passed laws to phase out greyhound simulcasting. Greyhound simulcasting will end in Colorado on September 30, 2024, in New Hampshire on December 31, 2026, and in Arizona on December 31, 2028. Once these prohibitions take effect, greyhound simulcast gambling will only exist in fourteen states. Greyhound simulcast betting was prohibited in Kansas and Massachusetts in 2022.

It appears that greyhound simulcast gambling may also be offered at Native American tribal casinos in Louisiana and New Mexico. Greyhound simulcast wagering is also legal, but not operational, in Montana and Wisconsin.

In 2022, simulcast wagering on greyhound racing accounted for 54% of all bets placed on dog racing in the United States. Fifty percent of dog simulcast wagering nationally occurred in the state of Florida.

Advance Deposit Wagering on dog racing

Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) is a form of betting in which an individual deposits money into an account and that money is subsequently used to pay for pari-mutuel wagers in person, by phone, or online through a licensed provider.

The actual transactions placed by gamblers across the country are processed in Oregon or North Dakota, the two states where multi-jurisdictional totalizer hubs are legally permitted and operational. These hubs are similar to credit card processing centers. For example, if a bettor places a wager through one of the Oregon hub companies, regardless of where the gambler is located, the bet is considered to have been made in the state of Oregon.

In 2023, $144 million was wagered on dog racing though ADW companies with hubs licensed in both Oregon and North Dakota. In 2022, wagering on dog racing via ADW companies accounted for 42% of all dog race wagering in the United States.

Concerns Over Legality of ADW

There has been tension over the legality of ADW as it relates to the Federal Wire Act and the Interstate Horseracing Act. The Interstate Horseracing Act was amended in 2000 to allow states to decide whether residents can make ADW bets on horse races from out-of-state operators, as long as ADW was legal in both states. However, it is important to note that the Interstate Horseracing Act applies specifically to horse races only, and makes no reference to the legality of ADW bets on greyhound racing.

In fact, for many years the Wire Act prohibition was generally interpreted to apply to all online gambling. However, in September 2011 the Department of Justice issued an opinion related to state lotteries that concluded “Interstate transmissions of wire communications that do not relate to a ‘sporting event or contest’ fall outside the reach of the Wire Act.””

In 2014 U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Jason Chaffetz introduced legislation to restore the original interpretation of the Act, prohibiting all forms of internet gambling except on horse racing. Their legislation was never considered.

Oregon’s role in propping up greyhound racing via ADW

Oregon outlawed live greyhound racing in March 2022, and severely restricted internet betting on dog racing to the minority of states where wagering on live greyhound racing is legal.

In 2022, $101.6 million or 26% of all dog race wagers in the United States were made over the internet via ADW companies licensed in Oregon. These gambling hubs operate under the controversial legal theory that bets placed by gamblers wagering from outside Oregon occur in Oregon, because that is where the processing centers are located.

$6.63 billion in racetrack wagers were processed in Oregon in 2023. Roughly 99% of these bets were on horse races, and only 1% on greyhound racing. Three companies use the Oregon hubs to process dog race bets: AmWest Entertainment, TwinSpires, and Xpressbet. Betting companies TVG and Premier Turf Club both discontinued offering dog racing bets since legislative action to restrict dog racing wagering was passed in 2022.

In 2023, alone, the Oregon Racing Commission reported that there were 10,542 greyhound injuries at dog tracks for which the Oregon ADW hubs were processing bets.

Regulation limiting Oregon Greyhound ADW betting is ignored

A longstanding state regulation mandates that ADW accounts can only be established for people outside Oregon if "wagering on that same type of live racing is lawful in the jurisdiction which is the natural person's principal residence." Wagering on live greyhound racing via the Oregon hub is therefore only legal in the seven states of Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. This regulation should limit ADW companies, allowing them to only offer greyhound bets to account holders in those states.

In 2021 GREY2K USA Worldwide volunteers across the country set up test accounts to ascertain whether ADW companies were allowing bets that violate this regulation. GREY2K was able to identify apparent violations in Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

Some of these states appear to be egregious violations. For example, a volunteer was able to open an account to place bets on dog races in Oklahoma, despite a 2021 statement from the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission which reads:

"The State of Oklahoma has no Greyhound Racing and Advanced Deposit Wagering is against the law here in Oklahoma."

Additionally, GREY2K obtained operational plans submitted to the Oregon Racing Commission which confirm that ADW companies have express knowledge of the regulation they are violating. The Operational Plan for US Off-Track, for example, stated that "to establish an account, an applicant must ... reside in a jurisdiction where wagering on the same type of live racing is lawful." GREY2K submitted a complaint to the Oregon Attorney General regarding this illegal gambling on September 24, 2021.

Oregon voters oppose gambling on greyhound racing

According to a survey commissioned by GREY2K and conducted by Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies in April 2021, a majority of Oregon voters (51%) indicated they oppose legalized greyhound racing in Oregon, compared to only 27% who support it. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) said they would vote for a proposed ballot measure to end gambling on dog racing, with support consistent across nearly all demographic groups. After hearing arguments from both sides, support surged to 74%.

North Dakota’s role in propping up greyhound racing via ADW

Greyhound racing is illegal in North Dakota.

In 2022, 16% of all dog race wagers made in the United States were made over the internet via ADW companies licensed in North Dakota. As in Oregon, the hubs operate under the legal theory that bets placed by gamblers from outside North Dakota occur in North Dakota.

Internet gambling companies like US Off-Track electronically stream dog races on mobile apps and let people in states across the country place bets. The North Dakota Racing Commission licenses out-of-state ADW companies, with the majority of ADW profits retained by the internet gambling companies.

In Fiscal Year 2023, $60.7 million in ADW greyhound bets were processed in North Dakota, whereas over $1 billion in horse bets were processed. Dog racing accounted for only 5% of all ADW bets processed in North Dakota, and the state received just $145,000 in revenue derived from dog racing.

Polling conducted in 2023 by Thirty-Ninth Street Strategies for GREY2K found that 71% of North Dakotans oppose allowing foreign dog tracks to use their state to process bets. After hearing pro and con messaging, opposition rose to 75%.

In June 2024, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing to examine North Dakota’s involvement in facilitating greyhound racing bets. GREY2K Executive Director Carey Theil presented before this Committee.

Involvement of foreign dog tracks

Foreign dog tracks in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia are using the North Dakota and Oregon ADW Hubs to facilitate bets from American gamblers. In January 2021 British company Sports Information Services (SIS), in partnership with AmWest Entertainment, introduced a new service that allows American gamblers to wager on races at British and Irish dog tracks. The agreement covers 53 race meetings per week, and as many as 33,000 dog races annually. The races are offered every seven minutes between 1:30 PM and 4:30 PM EST, with the stated goal to “keep bettors engaged and drive betting revenue.” This new betting service coincided with the end of greyhound racing in Florida, and is intended to prop up greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland. These wagers are processed in North Dakota and Oregon.