Greyhound tracks are folding across the country, but in cash-strapped Rhode Island - where the unemployment rate is among the nation's worst - lawmakers are betting on the dogs to save jobs.

Rhode Island legislators are fighting to expand greyhound racing, an increasingly outdated and unprofitable sport that has been squeezed out by newer forms of gambling. Over the objection of Gov. Don Carcieri, lawmakers have moved to force a bankrupt, state-licensed slot parlor to run 200 days of live racing at its greyhound track even though current law only requires 125.

Carcieri, a Republican, vetoed the legislation, but lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated General Assembly say they expect to override it.

Supporters of the dog racing bill say it's necessary to save 225 jobs - including pari-mutuel clerks, bartenders and security workers - to preserve tax revenue and to retain the 5,000 people who visit the track each week.

They also argue the public shouldn't be penalized for what they say are the bad business decisions of the owners of the gambling parlor, called Twin River.

"I did not want to see more people out of work," said Sen. Frank Ciccone III, the bill's sponsor. "My compassion is with the poor people who are trying to make a living than with the multimillionaires who overinvested and tried to take more money out."

The move bucks a national trend away from greyhound racing. In the last year alone, Massachusetts voters passed a ballot question banning greyhound racing amid allegations the dogs were mistreated; a pro-dog racing group wants to contest that referendum.

New Hampshire's two remaining greyhound tracks won state permission last month to end live racing after waning interest from bettors.

About 30 tracks remain nationwide, down from a peak of about 55 in the early 1990s, said Gary Guccione, executive director of the Kansas-based National Greyhound Association.

"There has been a downsizing," he said. "It started when the lotteries really started expanding and when the casinos were getting a foothold in different parts of the country."

UTGR Inc., the owners of Twin River Casino - which opened as a horse racing venue in the 1940s - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, unable to repay more than a half-billion dollars in debt taken on during massive renovations.