Morocco

Greyhound racing takes place in Casablanca, Morocco at le cynodrome de Casablanca. La Société des courses de lévriers du Maroc (The Society of Greyhound Racing in Morocco) has hosted races since 1950 on the oval, 320 meter track.1 Racing is conducted four days a week.2

There are 250 to 300 greyhounds racing at the track, with a majority housed at kennels in the nearby town of Ben Slimane. The dogs are fed a mixture of meat and rice and are exercised three times a day on 3.7 mile walks.3

It appears that a combination of Irish bred and Moroccan bred greyhounds participate in the races. Greyhounds begin racing at one year old and continue until they are nine to ten years old.4 According to a 2010 article in a Moroccan paper, older or injured greyhounds are sent to the kennel in Ben Slimane.5

Wagering on greyhound races is legal in Morocco. Punters are required to pay a national gambling tax on their bets. In 2006 the Ministry of Economy increased the tax on wagers from 30% to 50%, which led to a decline in the number of punters.6 A 2009 study on the prevalence of gambling in Morocco found that 60% of male participants had gambled on greyhound races.7

  1. Didier Bouville "Le cynodrome de Casablanca souffre de surtaxe [Mullingar Greyhound Casablanca suffers surcharge]," Le Petit Journal, March 16, 2007.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Dounia Mounadi, "Cynodrome: Quand le chien devient le frère de l'homme [Cynodrome: When the dog is the brother of the man]," Aujourd'hui le Maroc, October 10, 2010.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Didier Bouville "Le cynodrome de Casablanca souffre de surtaxe."
  7. Soumia Berrada, Linda Rachidi, Samir El Gnaoui, Mohamed Agoub, Driss Moussaoui, and Omar Battas, "Frequency and risk factors for pathological gambling in a sample of gamblers in Casablanca, Morocco," Encephale, 35(6) (2009) :554-9.

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