Greyhound Racing Worldwide — US Decline, Australia and the New Zealand Ban

Greyhound racing is contracting globally, and the UK circuit sits between decline and defiance. What was once a worldwide industry — operating across dozens of countries on every inhabited continent — has shrunk to a handful of active markets, each facing its own combination of legislative pressure, declining audiences and shifting public attitudes toward animals in sport. A sport in global retreat is a phrase that captures the trajectory without overstating it: greyhound racing has not vanished, but it has retreated to a defensive perimeter that grows narrower each year.

The three markets that define the global picture are the United States, where the industry has collapsed almost entirely; Australia, where the largest betting market in the sport is shrinking under political and welfare pressure; and New Zealand, where a complete ban was announced in 2024 with a closure deadline of mid-2026. Understanding these international dynamics provides context for the UK circuit — context that matters for anyone assessing the long-term future of a sport that Yarmouth Stadium and its 17 fellow licensed tracks continue to serve.

United States: From 50 Tracks to Two

The decline of American greyhound racing is the starkest in any market. According to GREY2K USA, just two operational tracks remain in the entire country, both in West Virginia. Forty-seven tracks have closed since 2001, a contraction driven by state-level ballot initiatives and legislation that progressively banned live greyhound racing across Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states that once formed the sport’s heartland.

The financial picture mirrors the venue count. Live wagering on US greyhound races totalled just $8.8 million in 2023 — a figure that would barely sustain a single major track in any other racing jurisdiction. The American industry has not simply declined; it has been legislated out of existence in most states, with the remaining two West Virginia venues operating in a political and commercial environment that offers no guarantee of survival.

The US collapse is instructive for the UK market because it demonstrates how quickly a national circuit can contract once the legislative momentum shifts against it. American greyhound racing did not die of natural causes — it was killed by ballot measures and state laws that reflected changing public sentiment about animal sports. The campaigns that produced those laws were funded and organised by welfare groups that now operate internationally, and the strategies that worked in Florida and Arizona have been adapted for use in Wales, Scotland and beyond.

For UK bettors and industry observers, the US market is now primarily relevant as a source of simulcast demand. American wagering operations import UK and Irish greyhound races via SIS to fill the content void left by domestic closures, which means the US market paradoxically consumes UK racing content while having dismantled its own domestic version of the sport. That transatlantic demand supports the broadcast economics of UK tracks like Yarmouth, even as the American domestic industry ceases to exist.

Australia: 70% of Global Turnover, 15% Decline

Australia dominates global greyhound racing by a margin that no other country approaches. According to a GREY2K report on the world stage of the greyhound industry, Australian racing accounts for roughly 70% of worldwide wagering turnover on the sport. That concentration means Australia’s trajectory has outsized significance for the global picture: when Australian turnover moves, the global numbers move with it.

The direction of that movement has been downward. Between 2022 and 2024, Australian greyhound betting turnover declined by 15%, falling from $6.34 billion to $5.36 billion. The decline reflects a combination of factors: tighter regulatory oversight following a series of live-baiting scandals, increased competition from other betting products, the growth of welfare advocacy within Australian politics and a generational shift in attitudes toward animal sports among younger demographics.

Australian greyhound racing operates on a scale that makes the UK circuit look modest. Multiple states run their own racing administrations — Greyhound Racing New South Wales, Greyhound Racing Victoria, Racing Queensland — each with its own regulatory framework, welfare standards and fixture calendar. The industry employs thousands and generates hundreds of millions in tax revenue, which has historically insulated it from the kind of legislative bans that closed the American circuit. But the 15% turnover decline signals a trend that the industry cannot ignore, and the political environment in states like New South Wales and Victoria has grown increasingly hostile.

The Australian welfare debate is more advanced than the UK equivalent in some respects. The 2015 Four Corners exposé of live-baiting practices in several states triggered a national crisis that led to a temporary ban in New South Wales — subsequently reversed — and permanent regulatory reforms across the country. The UK industry has not experienced an equivalent singular scandal, but the Australian experience serves as a warning: a single, well-documented welfare failure can shift public opinion faster than decades of incremental improvement can build it.

New Zealand: Ban Confirmed, Closure by July 2026

New Zealand’s greyhound racing ban is the most recent and most definitive of the international developments. On 10 December 2024, Racing Minister Winston Peters announced that greyhound racing would be banned, with a phased closure period of 20 months from the announcement. The final race in New Zealand is scheduled to take place no later than August 2026 — the same period the UK celebrates its centenary.

The New Zealand ban followed a review process that assessed the welfare evidence, the economic contribution of the sport and the practicalities of a managed shutdown. The government concluded that the welfare case outweighed the economic arguments, and the 20-month transition period was designed to allow for the rehoming of racing greyhounds, the redeployment of industry workers and the orderly closure of the country’s remaining tracks. The New Zealand model provides a template for what a managed wind-down looks like in practice — a phased process with defined deadlines, government oversight and explicit provisions for the dogs that would otherwise be left without a competitive home or a domestic one.

The New Zealand industry was small by Australian or British standards, but its closure carries symbolic weight that exceeds its commercial footprint. The country had a continuous greyhound racing tradition stretching back decades, with tracks in Auckland and other centres that served both a live audience and a domestic betting market. Ending that tradition required a political judgment that no amount of reform could bring the sport within acceptable welfare boundaries — a conclusion that the UK industry rejects on the strength of its own data but that campaigners in Wales and Scotland have found persuasive.

The timing is symbolically potent. As British greyhound racing prepares to celebrate 100 years since Belle Vue, one of the sport’s traditional markets will be staging its final races. The New Zealand ban joins a growing list of national and regional prohibitions — alongside the Welsh and Scottish legislative processes, the American state-level bans and the temporary New South Wales prohibition — that collectively define a pattern of global contraction. The sport is not dying everywhere at once, but it is retreating to a smaller number of markets, and the UK is increasingly prominent among those that remain.

For the 18 licensed stadiums in England, including Yarmouth, the international context provides perspective rather than direct threat. No English legislation is proposed, and the UK Culture Secretary has confirmed the government’s position against a domestic ban. But the global direction is clear, and the UK industry’s ability to sustain itself depends on maintaining the domestic political and social conditions that allow it to continue — conditions that the international experience shows can change faster than anyone expects.