Over the course of 20 years, Dairyland Greyhound Park Inc. in Kenosha, Wisconsin has raised $63.2 million in state revenue but persistent declining revenues in recent years have forced the last of Wisconsin’s greyhound racetracks to close its gates come December 31

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“To a great degree it’s the casinos [in the area] and the attrition of a stand-alone race track over the years that hurt us,” Dairyland’s executive vice president Roy Berger told Medill Reports. “We were never allowed to put a new product on the shelf, such as slots, because of the [state] constitution, so it was a single purpose business that became out of date.

“With the advent of no new product whatsoever and staggering losses of $17 million over the past seven years, there was just no upside,” Berger added.

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(With files from Medill Reports)