With the decline of greyhound racing nationwide, the Tucson Greyhound Park is fighting to survive.
The park was established in 1944 just around the same time that South Tucson became a city.
Tom Taylor is the CEO and general manager of the Tucson Greyhound Park and has been there for almost 15 years.
"We used to be the only place you could gamble other than Las Vegas," Taylor said. "Now Arizona has 27 Indian casinos and only three live tracks."
In the past 10 years, the 50 greyhound tracks in 15 states have diminished to just 25 tracks in seven states, according to the Greyhound Racing Association of America.
"There's only two live racetracks for greyhounds west of the Mississippi River: one in Houston, Texas and the other here in Tucson," Taylor said.
Two people have owned the park since 1987 and continue to keep it open despite losing money on and off the past 10 years. Taylor says they believe it will come back.
While the park used to highly benefit South Tucson, as business has gone down, so have its contributions to the city.
"We're still here paying taxes and sales taxes to the city," Taylor said.
The park pays a percentage of what's bet to the city, it pays sales taxes for food, beverages and programs and also property taxes of $77,000, which Taylor says helps the city and schools.
The park also provides work for a hurting economy.
"We have 135 employees, 65 percent of which are high school students," Taylor said. "It takes so many employees to run this business that there hasn't been a decrease, but employees have had to take pay cuts."
More races have been added to the schedule in order to help the park survive. There used to be 12 races a night for five nights a week. There are now 15 races a night, six days a week. Taylor hopes that also will bring attendance up due to a steady drop over the past few years.
"We averaged 300 people a night three years ago and now we are averaging about 50," Taylor said. "There's less people working and they just don't have the money to gamble."
Several months ago, Rep. Vic Williams, R-Tucson, introduced a bill on behalf of Tucson Greyhound Park in hopes of keeping dog racing alive in Arizona.
Right now, there is a requirement for the park to have live greyhound racing at least four days a week for 50 weeks of the year. This bill would eliminate that requirement.
With attendance steadily decreasing, the park is losing too much money having to put on the required number of live races, Taylor said. By reducing live races and letting the business revolve around off-track betting, the park won't be losing nearly as much money, he said.
"I'm supportive of economic development and the track is a viable business partner and has been part of South Tucson for decades," Williams said.
Williams called this a pro-gaming bill and said he fully supports gaming and the expansion of gaming in Arizona.
"This was a unique opportunity in politics and government where you have two opposing sides come together," Williams said. "Seeing people who oppose each other working for a common purpose is great to see."
Grey2K is a group that opposes greyhound racing, but supported the bill, according to Williams. This is because the fewer live races there are, the less the dogs have to race. He said there were other opposing parties who also became supporters.
Even with the bill being considered, the Tucson Greyhound Park is still in trouble. In some states – Florida for example – casinos and race tracks have merged to offer a strong financial enterprise. Arizona does not allow casinos at racing venues.
"Our days are numbered, our years are numbered," Taylor said. "We either have to get slot machines here or we're going to have to close. It's the only thing proven to work across the United States."
Taylor is hopeful a slot machine bill to allow casino-style gambling at tracks will be introduced in next year's legislative session.
This might be what just what it takes to resurrect the Tucson Greyhound Park.
"Hopefully down the road when the slot bill goes through, we can finally contribute more to South Tucson again," Taylor said.
