20 greyhound clubs across the state will benefit from around $23 million in state government funding to improve the welfare of racing greyhounds in NSW.

The new funding is part of the government's $30 million Greyhound Racing Capital Grants Program, which was first announced in 2017. In the last five years, over $7 million has been spent on safety works.

The next round of funding was allocated based on an independent report from Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW), compiled by a representative who visited 32 tracks in the state to review their current conditions.

State Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson announced the new funding last Tuesday 9 March. He said it would go towards upgrades at each track that would improve overall greyhound welfare and care while securing the future of greyhound racing in the state. 

“These design standards for the State’s racecourses have been developed by GRNSW and the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission based on leading research by the University of Technology, Sydney," the Minister said.

“The plan we are announcing today will ensure all tracks in NSW are upgraded to the minimum standards over the next three years.

GRNSW CEO Tony Mestrov welcomed the NSW Government’s support for its plan for allocating funding across 20 NSW greyhound racing tracks.

“The release of government funding for our plan will facilitate the development of world-class racetracks with an emphasis on safety and welfare,” Mr Mestrov said.

“There is still a bit of work left to be done and GRNSW will be continuing our consultation with all other clubs to make sure they have input into the future of our great industry and importantly all 32 clubs will benefit from this allocation of Government funding.”

According to the government, Western NSW-based clubs, including Coonamble, Broken Hill and Dubbo will now receive a share in $1.2 million.

Coonamble Greyhound Club President Graham Pickering said he was thrilled to hear the Coonamble track was on the list to receive funding that would ensure the wellbeing of local racing greyhounds.

"Any amount of funding would be good really - in my opinion, it would be great to get some air conditioning installed in the kennel block, as it's a major part of ensuring animal welfare," Mr Pickering said.

"A greyhound's body temperature is the same as a human's, so it needs to be around 26 or 27 degrees, which is very hard to do on a hot day with no air conditioning."

One of Mr Pickering's top priorities for the Coonamble Greyhound Club is air conditioning for the dog kennels.

According to Mr Pickering, the local track surface underwent a major restoration around four years ago, costing around $100,000.

GRNSW also recently gave the club a second-hand semaphore board to display race placings and times.

Mr Pickering said as a result of this generosity, the Coonamble track had gone from one of the worst greyhound racing courses to perhaps one of the best in the state when it came to minimising injuries.

"After the upgrade, I'd rate it 11 out of 10 - in the last four monthly meetings of the club, there have only been two or three injuries in total, and they were all minor," he said.

Mr Pickering said the annual Gold Cup race meeting - which traditionally occurs every October long weekend - contributes a lot to the local tourism economy.

"When these people come here, they stay in the local motels and caravan parks, shop at the local supermarkets and visit the local pubs," he said.

"When the government tried shutting down greyhound racing about four years ago, the Shire did a cost benefit analysis and found it contributes about $2 million to the economy in the week leading up to it."

"What's more, this year, we're considering adding an extra day to the races, so it would be Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Monday, which I reckon could bring in another $500,000 to $1 million by having them stay a few days longer."