By NIGEL JAQUISS/Oregon Journalism Project
SALEM — Gov. Tina Kotek has shut the door on Oregon’s large, if largely invisible, role in the rapidly declining sport of greyhound racing.
On May 7, Kotek signed House Bill 3020, which, according to a staff summary, “prohibits any person from wagering on the outcome of a greyhound or other dog race, or accept or facilitate such wagering, regardless of the location where the race takes place.”
The bill might seem confusing or even unnecessary, given that greyhounds haven’t raced in Oregon for more than two decades. For much of the 20th century, dog racing drew big crowds in Oregon. Multnomah Greyhound Park in Wood Village held more than 18,000 people and had a seating capacity of more than 6,000. But declining interest and strong criticism from animal rights activists led to the park’s closure in 2004.
Despite the sport’s waning popularity, boosters of animal racing—both dogs and horses—saw an opportunity. In 1999, they convinced Oregon lawmakers that the state ought to host online gambling at a time when the internet barely existed on both kinds of animals.
Oregon got an early jump in the business, and companies offering what is called “advanced deposit wagering” established themselves here. In 2025, Oregon-based advanced deposit wagering companies took more than $6.5 billion in bets, about half of all the money wagered in the country on animal races and about 95% of all ADW betting. The vast majority of that money was bet on horses.
Two lawmakers, late Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem and Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, tried earlier to get Oregon to stop booking bets on dogs. They helped pass Senate Bill 1504 in 2022 to do just that.
But because of ambiguity in the law, Oregon ADW companies continued to take bets on dogs. Only one state, West Virginia, still hosts live dog racing, but it continues in many countries, and Oregon companies took bets on races at the foreign tracks.
This year, Kotek asked lawmakers to fix SB 1504 to make it crystal clear that Oregon would stop facilitating dog racing, regardless of where the bettors or tracks might be located. The bill sailed through both chambers.
Gomberg says he’s thrilled.
“It’s about time,” he says. “I am glad we’ve gotten Oregon out of facilitating this terrible practice around the world.”
So is Carey Theil, a former Oregon resident who now heads the Boston-based greyhound advocacy group GREY2K.
“This is the biggest victory for American greyhound advocates since Florida outlawed dog racing in 2018,” Theil said. “The walls are closing in on the final remnants of this cruel industry.”
- Nigel Jaquiss can be reached at njaquiss@oregonjournalismproject.org. The Oregon Journalism Project is a nonprofit news initiative whose goal is to inform, engage, and empower Oregonians.
Comment Policy