Kenosha, Wisconsin (AP) 11-09

The last of Wisconsin’s five greyhound race tracks is closing at the end of the year.

The operators of Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha say the track will end racing Dec. 31.

Dairyland executive Roy Berger says the track has lost $17 million over the last seven years, including a $4 million deficit in 2009.

The pari-mutuel race tracks folded one by one when the state opened the door to Indian casino gambling.

Dairyland had hoped the Menominee Nation would win federal and state approval to develop a $1 billion casino complex at the track. The tribe has gone to court to try to overturn a decision against the proposed casino.

About 180 people will lose their jobs at Dairyland. And the track’s kennel owners are working to place about 900 dogs that race at Dairyland.

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January 2007 - Federal officials have given preliminary approval for a new American Indian casino in Kenosha.

January 2008 - The Potawatomi Bingo Casino has been negotiating with out-of-state racetracks to introduce simulcast racing and off-track betting to their casino. This will have a financial impact on the Dairyland Greyhound Park which has been losing money in recent years. (new Off-Track Betting Room opened September 2008)

November 2008 - The Menominee tribe filed a lawsuit Friday claiming the U.S. Department of the Interior improperly changed the rules for approving its proposed off-reservation casino at Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha.

(The lawsuit resulted from a change in policy by the former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne that required off-reservation casinos to be within commuting distance of the reservation. )

January 2009 - The Menominee Tribe received word today that, at the direction of outgoing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the U.S. Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs has rejected our Kenosha casino application.

April 2009 - The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin has changed its strategy and withdrawn its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior for rejecting its plan to build an $800 million Indian casino in Kenosha. Instead the tribe will seek to negotiate with new administration officials in Washington.

Related - BELOIT, WI The federal government yesterday rejected the application of the Bad River and St. Croix Chippewa bands of Wisconsin to build a tribal casino in Beloit. This follows last week's rejection of the Menominee tribe's application to build a casino at the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha. In both cases the U.S Department of Interior's decision was based on last year's policy change that restricts off-reservation casinos.