THEODORE, Alabama -- The bugle sounds minutes before 1:30 p.m., calling anyone willing to place a bet. A sparse crowd of men, mostly, scanned the races from elsewhere that flashes on the flat panel TV screens. It's the peak of business at the Mobile Greyhound Park, a Saturday, when onlookers, although sparse in numbers, still come to see the races.
To the right, where the slender dogs wait with their handlers holding them tightly, some of the younger patrons prefer to get a closer look before they wager.
Don Howze, 74, knows better than that. He shuffles back inside, huffing on the last of his cigarette. "They can run any kind of way they want to run...just pick numbers," he said later. A patron of the track for some 20 years and a fan of the sport "since I'm 18 years old," he drove a friend's car all the way from Biloxi. But the number of spectators like Howze dwindles every year.
A look at the live racing handle, or the amount wagered, reveals a dismal picture, the numbers falling for 13 of the past 15 years.
Combined wagering last year -- which includes greyhound and horse simulcasting from other tracks -- is down 53 percent from 2006 where it hit $58.5 million. It was $27.5 million in 2013. And revenue the Mobile County Racing Commission collects from the pari-mutuel is at its lowest point in the track's 40-year history.
As a commissioner for the past 18 years, Eddie Menton has a special seat overseeing the slow decline of dog racing. And it's not just in Mobile, Menton said, but at pari-mutuels around the country. The majority of the 21 tracks still open are run in Florida, but Alabama still has two of its own, including Birmingham Race Course.
"Eventually, these tracks can't continue -- we just don't know when that is," Menton said. "As long as they are making some profit I think they will keep going. I don't know if you would put money into it if you're losing money."
Looming loss
Economic forces are working against the sport. The pull of gambling at casinos lured customers away. Few of the tracks left are lucky enough to also have poker, slots or something to help buoy the losses.
Not in Mobile. Practically all of the Greyhound Park's revenue comes from the track owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. But the political climate in Alabama has been particularly hostile to gaming.
Still, there's another bourgeoning threat: The potential "decoupling" of race tracks and casinos in Florida. Already proven to be a souring asset, track owners are yearning to stop racing dogs.
"South Florida has slot machines and the rest of the state has poker," said Steven Norton, a gambling and industry expert. "If they were able to close their racing they could still operate their pari-mutuels which are mainly horse tracks, and they would still be able to keep their poker."
The move would diminish the revenue from simulcasting, a smaller, albeit much-needed portion pot of revenue at the greyhound park in Mobile and other places.
Norton said if a decoupling law passes in Florida it could be the undoing of other tracks.
A slow decline
Pari-mutuels emerged in Alabama in 1973 after lots of politicking by former Mobile state Rep. Maurice "Casey" Downing. Long considered a failed effort, Downing's persistence helped thrust a bill through the statehouse two years before.
Clockwise from the left: Former state Rep. Maurice "Casey" Downing at the Mobile Greyhound Park on August 12, 1973. An aerial view of the parking lot at the track in August 1973; and a welcome sign at the greyhound park on July 26, 1993. (Press-Register file photos)
Near the entrance, a board sits in a display case with the headlines that recount dog racing's rise. But its preeminence didn't last long.
Combined wagering peaked at $100 million in 1987 -- a year before the Florida Lottery started -- and it's been on a slow descent ever since. Mississippi sanctioned riverboat casinos, siphoning more revenue from the track, in 1992.
Simulcasting offered a much-needed, but short-lived boost in the mid-1990s. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, known for its towering Wind Creek Casinos in Atmore and Wetumpka, purchased a controlling interest in the track in 2009. Mississippi casinos had moved onto dry land four years earlier, but the purchase by the well-heeled tribe still generated excitement.
Their plan was staked on one day possibly adding gaming machines on the property, an idea that floundered in the 2010 legislative session. Lawmakers became dismayed with the appearance that gaming interests were secretly in control of the policy making, and the measure never garnered enough support.
The war started by former Gov. Bob Riley -- shutting down gaming halls around the state -- is now being waged mostly in courtrooms.
'Trying to get new people'
Brent Pinkston, chief operating officer for PCI Gaming Authority, the gambling arm of the tribe, said revenue has been "stable."
There are plans to renovate some areas of the first floor, a drab and hollow room with outdated seating and concrete floors. "Most of it is around enhancing the cosmetics inside," Pinkston said.
During the facelift the owners will add a VIP room on the first floor; refurbish the food and beverage counter, adding new menu items; and install new flooring and tiles.
Like any recreation -- especially one with aging regulars -- the managers of the park want to attract a younger class of patrons.
"We have a pretty solid core that has been there for a number of years," Pinkston said. "We're trying to get new people (who) have never been to the track before."
That "core" is filled with people like Don Howze, who has already taken issue with one of the changes.
The clubhouse upstairs has been turned into a recreational poker room on Friday and Saturday nights. The winnings are usually gift certificates and other freebies from Wind Creek.
Now the card game is being played in his favorite spot.
"They're doing everything derogatory to ruin this track and that's the reason you don't see anybody here," Howze said. "On Saturday it used to be packed."
It's another tactic, Pinkston said, to "basically get to people out to the property."
As for the prospect of adding electronic bingo machines, Pinkston said not until legislators change the law. "If it was an option we would definitely try it."