NEWS
Report expected on future of off-track betting in New York
Posted: Friday, January 07, 2011 3:12 PM
by Paul Post
The head of New York’s Assembly racing committee expects to submit a report about the future of off-track betting to new Gov. Andrew Cuomo within the next several weeks.
New York City Off Track Betting Corp., which had handled $750-million in wagers annually, closed one month ago Friday, when the state Senate refused to approve legislation that would have kept it open.
Shortly after, the Assembly Committee on Racing, Wagering and Gaming obtained testimony from off-track betting, racetrack, and other industry officials, at a hearing in Albany, the state capital.
“I’ve always said we don’t need six OTBs in the state,” committee Chairman J. Gary Pretlow (D-Yonkers) said on Friday. “They’ve really outlived their usefulness. Yes, we need OTB; but do we need six OTBs fighting each other? It leads to a lot of inconsistencies.”
Five separate regional off-track betting groups remain in New York—two on Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk) and three upstate (Catskill, Capital, and Western). Pretlow said the competition between them—and New York’s racetracks—became painfully evident during New York City OTB’s final hours.
“The other OTBs killed New York OTB,” he said. “They lobbied against legislation that would have kept it open.”
The other firms argued that they should get the same benefits, such as statutory reductions in payments to racing and government, as New York City OTB.
“But this was a bankruptcy proceeding,” Pretlow said. “This wasn’t about getting them benefits. Because OTB closed, the state acquired another $600-million in debt, 1,000 people lost jobs, and OTB retirees lost their health benefits.”
One month later, the jury is still out on whether New York City OTB’s closure is more or less serious than expected. The New York Racing Association’s account wagering business, NYRA Rewards, has gone up significantly and attendance has risen noticeably at Aqueduct—for live racing and simulcasting—and at Belmont Park’s café, a simulcast facility.
Both Nassau and Suffolk OTBs have seen increased wagering as well.
Paul Post is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: anne, new york city, NY on January 11, 2011 at 10:27 AM
The health benefits of the retirees must be restored. You work for OTB and retire in good faith and then years later you are told you will not get your health coverage. Tragic.
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Posted by: Leonard, Lawndale, CA on January 09, 2011 at 11:17 PM
It's time for change and OTB is out, if it was generating so much money I seriously don't think it would be on it's death bed. Goodbye OTB it was fun but it's time to go and start moving toward's the future.
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Posted by: Patricia, Staten Island, NY on January 09, 2011 at 03:07 PM
In all honesty, NYC OTB was the OTB that brought in wagers close to a billion a year, the tracks, and NYRA's internet/telephone wagering will never make up for the losses in revenue generated by NYC OTB. The handle at Aqueduct is not even up figures worth printing- or believe me they would have it posted everyday in the NY papers!! SAVE NYC OTB!! The employees made unfair concessions to try and save the corp. herein lies the chance...with it's closing, and future reopening, they can eliminate the salary sucking politically apointed executives who drove it under in the first place, by allowing insane distribution formulas (from tracks who greased palms to get them)which will be changed moving forward. This, and only this will save the racing industry in New York State.
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Posted by: marta, new york city, NY on January 08, 2011 at 07:03 PM
so what you're saying we don't need OTB in NYC excuse me but where do you think OTB originated? the founder Howard Samuels started this corporation IN NEW YORK CITY not upstate and not in Long Island and the workers who lost their jobs and retirees lost their health benefits, who by the way worked in NYC are suffering, i think they should open the OTB's in New York City, i bet we'll bring back more money than you can imagine. I've worked for OTB since 1971 and just retired almost three years now, i hope and i pray that they open back up especially for those that just lost their jobs, these are friends i've known for years my god, they are suffering so much. I know something has to give but not at the expense of these peoples lives. Dear god please help us, those that lost their jobs and those that lost their medical benefits thank you for reading this
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