Apr 1, 2017 3 min read

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Senate passed a hotly contested bill Monday to eliminate funding for greyhound racing that industry officials say would cost an estimated 1,700 jobs and doom the industry in the state.

After significant debate, the bill passed 19-15 and now awaits action in the House of Delegates.

Wood County Republican Mike Azinger said greyhound racing “sucks money from the poor” and isn’t the industry that it once was.

Only five other states have live greyhound racing: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa and Texas. Arizona ended dog racing at the end of last year.

“Dog racing’s popularity has gone to the dogs,” Azinger said. “West Virginia’s future is not in subsidizing losing ventures like these. Let’s be serious about the money problems that we have in West Virginia. Let’s make bold decisions like this bill addresses.”

The legislation would end the West Virginia Racing Commission’s Greyhound Breeding Development Fund and transfer anticipated payouts for dog breeders for the next fiscal year to an excess lottery revenue fund for the Legislature’s appropriation.

The development funding comes from a portion of video lottery and table game revenues at greyhound tracks in Nitro and Wheeling.

The legislation is intended to help offset the state’s budget crisis. Next year’s budget has an estimated deficit of up to $500 million.

Northern Panhandle lawmakers said the bill could scuttle recent economic progress. Opponent Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, said if dog racing leaves the Wheeling Island racetrack, the track’s property value could suffer, and funding that comes to the city through tax-related financing could tumble.

“We might make money today at the expense of an entire valley, an entire region,” Maroney said. “I don’t know how anyone can even vote on this without knowing the economic impact, without even talking to people in Wheeling.”

Maroney said 1,200 of the potential job losses would be in the Ohio Valley.

West Virginia Kennel Owners Association lobbyist Alan Pritt said during a Senate committee hearing last week that the laid-off industry workers would move to states where greyhound racing is allowed.

“For many, this is their lifestyle,” Pritt said. “This is no different than a farmer. They’re going to move where they can race greyhounds. We’re going to lose a lot of people.”

But Upshur County Republican Robert Karnes said the Legislature is making tough choices, including whether to pay for education and senior citizen programs.

“This is a simple choice,” Karnes said. “It’s the dogs or your kids. It’s the dogs or mom and dad. I’m not going to help the dogs.”