Sunday, December 30, 2012

open for racing and betting in NJ when Nassau OTB

is closed because Cuomo is King?

New Jersey sports betting law can be challenged, judge rules

A New Jersey judge has ruled that four major professional sports organizations and the NCAA have standing to challenge a law that authorizes sports betting in the state.
In making the Dec. 21 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Shipp rejected arguments from New Jersey seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the leagues and the NCAA. Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, and the NCAA filed suit in August challenging the 2012 law, contending that it violates a 1992 federal law prohibiting sports betting in any state that did not allow the practice prior to 1991.
The New Jersey law would allow sports betting at Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks. Monmouth Park has said that it plans to seek a license to conduct sports betting as early as Jan. 9, the earliest that the New Jersey Gaming Commission has said it will issue a license. Monmouth may limit players to gambling with fake money until the lawsuit is resolved.
Judge Shipp has given the U.S. Attorney General until Jan. 20 to file a brief challenging the law. The next hearing will focus on the constitutionality of the law legalizing the practice.

Andrew Cuomo can't fix leaks

The Day at the Races: December 29 - NY Daily News

www.nydailynews.com/.../day-races-december-29-article-1.1229216
2 days ago – Friday, December 28, 2012; NYDailyNews.com / More Sports ... By Jerry Bossert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ... but I still believe racing's days are numbered at Aqueduct as Genting would like to see the Big A become one big ...

Al D'Amato tells NY Greeks to play poker and get


the hell out of Nassau OTB when Andrew Cuomo is in church.  See NY Const.. Art. 1, Sec. 3.
You can't close Nassau OTB on Roman Catholic Holidays in preference to Greek Orthodox Holidays.

Brought to you by friends of Gangster Girl Gillibrand. Real Lawyers don't let Governors drive drunk with silly statutes.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324461604578193492494089604.html


D.C. Plays Fizzbin With Online Poker

How to make the poor pay for the welfare state: online gambling.

Sometimes only a Star Trek metaphor will do. Remember the episode about a primitive people who developed a planet-girdling civilization based on the principles of the Chicago gangs? Many modern economic anthropologists would tell you that the state begins as organized crime, dividing up rackets and controlling turf.
Case in point: anything having to do with Internet poker.
It starts with the enterprising activities of the Justice Department. Seizing on a 2006 law making it illegal to process U.S. payments for online gambling, federal prosecutors last year brought charges against three offshore poker websites. While admitting no wrongdoing, the sites quickly settled and agreed to hand over substantial sums of money to the department.

Some of these funds were supposed to reimburse the "victims," U.S. poker players who had money in their accounts when the sites were shut down. But so cumbersome and legalistic is the process created by Justice that many lawyers say they don't expect their clients to find it worth the trouble or legal fees. Justice may end up keeping much of the loot itself under asset-forfeiture rules.
Don't expect a hue and cry from gambling interests, however. Bigger stakes are up for grabs, not unlike the turf war Captain Kirk found when he beamed down to the gangster planet Sigma Iotia II.
Having cleared the online poker marketplace of its incumbents, Justice decided that under the 1961 Wire Act most Internet gambling isn't illegal after all. This new "interpretation," which came at the behest of Illinois and New York, has inspired a new light in the eyes of state officials looking for ways to fund the welfare state. Dancing in their heads are visions of new state-sponsored gambling empires built on online poker, online slot machines and online lottery-ticket sales, with politicians collecting most of the vig.
Getty Images

Not everyone is pleased by the prospect. Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who is retiring this year, doesn't like gambling; Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, doesn't like gambling when it's not controlled by Nevada casinos.
During the lame-duck session, these improbable bedfellows promoted a bill to halt the online gambling stampede, except for online poker. Why the exception? Poker is a great American tradition, say supporters, including former Sen. Al D'Amato, representing something called the Poker Players Alliance.
More to the point, stopping Americans from playing Internet poker is probably impossible. Under the Kyl-Reid proposal, at least players would be pitted against each other, not the house, which is deemed less iniquitous and corrupting.
The bill satisfies Mr. Reid, meanwhile, because Nevada is already pushing ahead with in-state online poker. Nevada's casinos and Nevada's gaming regulators see a federal law as a way to give themselves a headstart in marketing a government-endorsed version of the game to the masses nationally and internationally.
The Kyl-Reid bill, as Captain Kirk would quickly suss out (aided by the deductive powers of Mr. Spock), was destined instantly to become a bone of contention among the various gangs jostling for a piece of the online poker action.
The state lottery commissioners and governors opposed the bill because it would prevent them offering an array of tantalizing new online games to suckers, er, citizens of their states.
Convenience-store owners supported the bill, hoping to block states from selling lottery tickets online, which would cut into the stores' lucrative piece of the over-the-counter lottery racket.
The Nevada casinos naturally favored any law that would give them a leg up in the emerging marketplace for legal online poker.

In hearings before Congress last year, a Native American spokesman argued that tribes must be allowed to offer online poker on grounds that his 101-year-old grandmother had been a reservation schoolteacher fighting to preserve native culture. Therefore, "if anybody deserves to be at the front line in this industry it's Native American people."
Captain Kirk, it will be remembered, invented the deliberately convoluted card game "Fizzbin" as a ruse to distract the gambling-mad, gangster inhabitants of Sigma Iotia II. The Reid-Kyl gambit may have run out of time, but the feds aren't likely to desist from trying to control so profitable a new racket. State-sponsored gambling is the one acceptable way of raising taxes on lower-income folks to help fund the welfare state. With or without federal regulation, legalized online poker is likely coming your way in 2013. Don't be surprised if one of the games is called Fizzbin.
A version of this article appeared December 26, 2012, on page A11 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: D.C. Plays Fizzbin With Online Poker.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Andrew Cuomo is a silly thief

See NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3.
HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.

Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348 

Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012


Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.

 
(If this message is not displaying properly, click here to launch your browser.)
From the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Dear Fellow New Yorker,
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that Long Island was awarded $60 million in round two of the State’s Regional Economic Development Councils competition.
As the centerpiece of the Governor's strategy to jumpstart the economy and create jobs, the Regional Councils were put in place in 2011 to redesign the state's approach to economic development from a top-down model to a community-based, performance-driven approach. The initiative empowers community, business, and academic leaders, as well as members of the public in each region of the state, to develop strategic plans specifically tailored to their region's unique strengths and resources in order to create jobs and support economic growth.
This year as part of the second round of the funding process, Governor Cuomo and Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy traveled to all ten regions of the state to view progress on projects that have received state funding, as well as assess projects included in the region's 2012 application.
Long Island was awarded $59.7 million for 86 projects in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Some of the winning projects include:
  • $2.15 million to expand the Brookhaven Rail Terminal in Yaphank to include construction of a 500,000 square foot refrigerated warehouse and a multi-modal rail freight facility to transport products on and off Long Island
  • $1 million to support the construction of an $80 million, 94,000 square foot Research Institute at Winthrop University Hospital in the Village of Mineola. The Institute will be a medical research and education facility that will focus on diabetes and obesity.
  • $1 million to support the construction of a sewage collection system for the Ronkonkoma Hub transit-oriented development. The system will connect the proposed mixed-use redevelopment project to a new sewage treatment plant being constructed by Suffolk County with Round One Regional Council funding. A second component in the Town of Islip involves the construction of a four lane access road of approximately 9,000 linear feet to a 60-acre undeveloped parcel at MacArthur Airport. This project is critical to the retention of the FAA Tracon Facility on Long Island and 800 jobs.
  • $1 million to construct a new Long Island Railroad station and pedestrian overpass, providing access to new commuter parking areas in Wyandanch
  • $500,000 for Nassau County to redevelop the 77-acre Nassau Hub area to include a new state-of-the-art indoor sports arena, minor league baseball park, retail, office and residential development
  • $500,000 to support a 30,000 square foot expansion of the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park on 38.5 acres at Farmingdale State College. The project will help meet a critical need for incubator space to accommodate spin-offs from Long Island research facilities and retain and create life sciences jobs.
  • $227,583 and $120,000 for infrastructure upgrades to improve the competitiveness and profitability of two commercial fish processing, packing and distribution facilities in Montauk, the largest fishing port in New York State
To learn more about Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils that are creating jobs throughout our state, click here.
Together we are building a new New York.
Sincerely,
The Office of the Governor

Governor Cuomos Facebook Page Governor Cuomos Twitter Feed
Governor Cuomos Facebook Page



This is a message from the New York State Executive Chamber, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224.
If you'd prefer not to receive e-mail like this, please click here for our unsubscribe options.
Our privacy policy is available here.
Copyright 2012 New York State. All rights reserved.


NY Bettors do not believe NY Const Art 1, Sec. 3

right thief Andrew Cuomo and neither should you. Anyone knows you can't close Nassau OTB based on religious preference. eg closed on Roman Catholic Palm Sunday and open on Greek Orthodox Palm Sunday.
Andrew Cuomo is unfit to be Governor and is a thief of the rights of NY Bettors secured by NY Const. ARt, 1, Sec. 3

(If this message is not displaying properly, click here to launch your browser.)
From the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Dear Fellow New Yorker, Twenty-four months ago, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was sworn into office. Over the past two years, the Governor has worked tirelessly towards the goal of building a new New York. Time and time again, he has produced results on issues that had proven intractable for years.
Working with the Legislature, the Governor balanced the State’s budget two years in a row and brought long-term stability to our state finances. He got a property tax cap passed to reduce the ever-growing tax burden on our families and businesses. He led the fight for ethics reform, providing for true transparency in Albany. And he helped restore our state’s reputation as the progressive capital of the nation by achieving marriage equality and promoting a progressive agenda aimed at making New York a more fair and just place for all New Yorkers.
Notable achievements in the past year include:
  • Reforming our state’s education system to focus on student achievement and accountability;
  • Enacting a bold economic blueprint to boost our state’s economic growth and create tens of thousands of jobs while rebuilding our state’s aging infrastructure;
  • Enacting public pension reform that will save state and local taxpayers a combined $80 billion over the next 30 years;
  • Expanding New York’s DNA databank to better protect New Yorkers; and
  • Creating the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs which transforms how our state protects over one million New Yorkers with disabilities or special needs.
Click here to read the Governor’s full 2-Year Progress Report.
As our state faces new and daunting challenges resulting from Hurricane Sandy, the Governor is committed to an extensive recovery effort and to executing a strategy to protect New Yorkers from the impact of climate change. While many challenges remain ahead, we are heartened by the progress we have made.
Working together, we can continue to build a new New York, one that is rooted in opportunity, prosperity, and fairness.
A happy New Year to you and your family.
Sincerely,
The Office of the Governor

Governor Cuomos Facebook Page Governor Cuomos Twitter Feed
Governor Cuomos Facebook Page



This is a message from the New York State Executive Chamber, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224.
If you'd prefer not to receive e-mail like this, please click here for our unsubscribe options.
Our privacy policy is available here.
Copyright 2012 New York State. All rights reserved.

Is it any wonder New York State is bankrupt?

HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.

Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348 

Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012


Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.



.

Greek Bettors in NY need church help to fight

religious discrimination in New York by Andrew Cuomo
The Wall Street Journal

Greek Church Fields Calls to Do More

ATHENS—In the basement of St. Varvaras church, Rev. Theodoros Georgiou issued instructions on a recent morning to volunteers preparing hundreds of packages of food for local families, as two phones on his desk buzzed with more calls about supplies for Greece's growing ranks of the needy.
image
Alkis Konstantinidis for The Wall Street Journal
Women in the Athens suburb of Argyroupolis prepare meals at a church soup kitchen in late November, as church resources are strained by crisis.
"We do not solve the problems here," Father Theodoros said. "We put out fires."
As unemployment has mounted in recession-hit Greece, so have poverty and hunger in Father Theodoros's once firmly middle-class parish in the Greek capital. His congregation's philanthropic resources have been stretched to the limit, he says, as it contributes to churchwide efforts to feed 10,000 people a day across Athens—which in turn is part of what Greek Orthodox Church officials say is the biggest mobilization to help the disadvantaged here since the aftermath of World War II.
Critics complain that the church isn't doing enough, however. In a country where the state is nearly bankrupt and its political forces are splintered, the church remains a powerful and unifying institution—one that these people say must reassess its contribution not only to the nation's spiritual needs, but also to its worldly salvation.
"Greek people expect their church to go out of its way to help Greek society endure and recover," said Aristides Hatzis, an associate professor of law, economic and legal theory at the University of Athens. "This is a national emergency."
Many critics have focused on the church's extensive holdings of real-estate, as well as in blue-chip companies and government bonds, saying the church can help the country financially.
"The church's contribution is limited to the operation of soup kitchens and the distribution of food it has received from donations. This is all just a drop in the ocean," said Grigoris Psarianos, a lawmaker with the small Democratic Left party, part of Greece's coalition government.
The church says it is doing the best it can, not only feeding thousands of the hungry, but also helping to deliver health care services and medicines. "What we can do is try to make sure people have the basic necessities, so that we have a decent human society," said Rev. Vasilios Havatzas, head of the Athens archdiocese's general charity fund. "The church just couldn't sit and watch as the crisis erupted."
Critics, including Mr. Psarianos, want the church to pay more taxes and to assume responsibility for paying its clergy, something that is now done by the government.
Back in 1952, as Greece was struggling to recover from World War II and its own brutal civil war, church and state struck a deal: The church would hand a portion of its real-estate to the state and in exchange, the government would pay clerics' salaries.
The church's annual payroll has swelled to about €200 million ($262 million) for its 9,000 staff, church officials say. As Athens needs to slash costs to pare its mountainous debt, demands are mounting for the church to pay its own way. Religious leaders say they are open to that, if they can boost church revenue.
One obvious source of increased funds: Better management of the church's sprawling property empire. The exact value of the church's holdings isn't known. But it is the country's second-largest land owner after the government, which has an estimated €300 billion property portfolio.
Church leaders have asked the country's privatization agency for advice on how to boost income from real estate, but it could take several years to implement its suggestions.
More income from church property holdings should also mean more tax revenue for the Greek government. Under a law passed in 2010, Greece raised the amount of taxes the church must pay on its earnings from commercial properties.
For example, the church owns prime beach-front land near Athens that, if developed, would create jobs and raise tax revenue. Critics say the church is holding out for more favorable development terms and improved market conditions. The church says its investment plans are tied up in red tape but declined to offer additional details.
There are limits to how far mainstream politicians are willing to push the church, a guardian of national identity, language and religion for centuries in a country where some 95% of people say they are Orthodox. Religious icons adorn public schools, courts and even tax offices.
Many politicians have traditionally sought to highlight their ties to church leaders, who often weigh in on sensitive national economic and political issues, and are loath to challenge them, fearing a backlash from their churchgoing constituents.
But that may be changing, as the church's reputation has been dented by scandals involving financial sins. Among the best known was a land-swap with the Greek government engineered by a thousand-year-old monastery that cost taxpayers tens of millions of euros and contributed to the downfall of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis in 2009.
The head monk of the monastery, one of the country's richest and most powerful, was accused of deceiving government officials in 2005 into exchanging cheap farmland—including lakes—for prime Athens real estate. He has denied a public prosecutor's charges that he incited officials to commit fraud, perjury and money laundering. The matter has yet to be heard.
Lawmakers have investigated several former government ministers over the deal but the probe was dropped after it fell outside a statute of limitations that applies to those who have held government office.
More recently, press reports of bishops having stashed millions of euros in bank accounts at home and abroad have been multiplying. The church and police are investigating.
The church says it is determined to pay the taxes required under the law. It says it paid €12.6 million in taxes in 2011, and that its books are audited just like other taxpayers'.
Church officials also say they are struggling to do more with less. The costs of delivering food, clothing and health care to the needy are rising as church revenue falls.
Not only are recession-hit worshipers putting less in the collection box on Sundays, the church's 1.5% holding in the country's largest lender, National Bank of Greece, hasn't paid any dividends since 2008—depriving the church of some €5 million a year that used to help fund church activities. Rental income from its property portfolio has dropped to below €2 million annually from about €4 million in 2007, the church says.
On the front lines, the clergy is also hurting from the crisis, alongside the faithful.
In a parish near Father Theodoros's in Athens, Rev. Nikolaos Koutroumanis, who is 45 and supports his wife and 14-year-old daughter, has seen his salary fall by 30% in the last two years amid cuts to public-sector salaries. He says he hasn't gone shopping for clothes, nor has his wife, in the last two years.
"I have trust in God and that he will prevent the worst," said the bearded priest, dressed in a long black robe. "What I fear is that at the same time, I won't be able to pay my bills and taxes."
Write to Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared December 27, 2012, on page A9 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Greek Church Fields Calls to Do More.


HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.

Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348 

Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012


Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

we hate Greeks, express our religious preference,

and could not care less if OTB workers want to work and/or bet on any given day of the year before the OTB drops dead like NYC OTB. See NY Const. Art. 1, Sec 3.
We will not provide the full text of the agreement. 


New York State Racing and Wagering Board
Phone:  518-395-5400
www.racing.ny.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                
December 26, 2012

CONTACT: Lee Park
lee.park@racing.ny.gov

 

NYS RACING & WAGERING BOARD APPROVES VIDEO STREAMING AGREEMENT THROUGH 2013


The New York State Racing and Wagering Board today announced the continuation of online video streaming of thoroughbred and harness races in New York state throughout the 2013 calendar year.

The action extends an agreement forged in 2010 and renewed in 2011 by the Racing and Wagering Board in the wake of New York City Off-Track Betting (OTB) Corporation’s closure in December 2010. The collaboration was forged to compensate for revenue lost in the wake of New York City OTB’s closure and also to give the betting public easy access to view live racing on the Internet.

“This industry-wide agreement has produced positive results for New York’s horse racing over the past two years and it is imperative that we continue the partnership and give fans access to the sport,” Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John D. Sabini said. “I applaud the tracks and off-track betting corporations for recognizing the value of extending video streaming of New York’s horse racing and ensuring its continued viability.”

An examination of handle and account data from The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA), Yonkers and the five regional OTBs for the first nine months of 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011 shows the entities experienced a combined 17 percent increase in  account wagering handle and a 16 percent increase in the  total number of accounts.” This increase occurred even with Yonkers closing its account wagering platform on March 31, 2012.

The renewed agreement includes all the OTBs and track operators in New York State. Included in the agreement are: The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA), Capital District Regional OTB, Catskill Regional OTB, Nassau Regional OTB, Suffolk Regional OTB, Western Regional OTB and the operators of Batavia Downs, Tioga Downs, Vernon Downs, Buffalo Raceway, Finger Lakes Racetrack, Monticello Raceway, Saratoga Gaming and Raceway and Yonkers Raceway.

###
 
HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.

Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348 

Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012

Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

You don't have to be a Supreme Court Justice and

eat Chinese food to know that Nassau OTB can't express its religious preference in closing on Roman Catholic Easter Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday. Ditto for Palm Sunday.
High Court Justice Kagan Reminded of Holiday Quip
When Justice Elena Kagan was introduced last week at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in Washington to light the menorah, she was reminded of a line that ensures her a place in U.S. Supreme Court history.
At her 2010 confirmation hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) had asked where she was the previous Christmas, the day of an unsuccessful airplane-bombing attempt.
"Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant," Justice Kagan responded.
That is likely the one remark "in my entire life that will be quoted most," Justice Kagan recalled Thursday. "At least to Jewish audiences."
She was on hand to deliver the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Lecture. The event actually was a conversation with literary critic Leon Wieseltier that touched on her judicial models, her favorite opinion and her impressions of the Israeli Supreme Court, which she visited last summer.
Yet true to her prediction, Justice Kagan couldn't live down her Christmas quip.
"Some people asked me, 'Was that prepared?' " Justice Kagan said. "Really, you think the White House would have let me say something like that?"
"There was a Chinese restaurant at about 72nd and Broadway, very close to where I grew up, and they had put up in the window a big sign that said, 'We love you, too, Elena Kagan,' " she recalled. "Pretty much everybody in New York sent me a picture of that sign."
"And when I was confirmed, the same Chinese restaurant put up a big sign that said, 'Mazel tov!' "
Her appointment reverberated beyond the Jewish community, Mr. Wieseltier said. "You have not created expectations in the hearts of Washington's Jews, so much as in the hearts of Washington's Chinese restaurants."
—Jess Bravin


I-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.

Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348 

Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012


Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.

Monday, December 24, 2012

rebuild and come together great dictator by

seeing that the rights of Nassau County Bettors secured by NY Const. Art 1, Sec. 3 are not abridged.
To make things simple you might realize that if you can buy a New York Lottery ticket every day of the year except at Nassau OTB, something is wrong. People should be free to do as they wish without your religious preference dictating to others. 

Andrew Cuomo's messages from heaven are an indictment of his character, competence, and common sense.

Open Nassau OTB 365 days of the year for New York Bettors and the people of the State of New York who derive benefit and/or pleasure or simply a day's pay for an honest day's work.

(If this message is not displaying properly, click here to launch your browser.)
From the Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
Dear Fellow New Yorker,

As we continue to come together to celebrate the holiday season, we reflect on the year that has passed.

This year, we made great strides towards building a new New York -- one rooted in fairness, opportunity, and prosperity for all. But we also experienced great tragedy. Hurricane Sandy impacted countless communities across New York, devastating the lives of many New Yorkers. Most recently, our neighboring state of Connecticut experienced an unthinkably horrific tragedy when a gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 young students and six school officials.

These tragedies weigh on our hearts, and as we gather with friends and family this holiday season, I encourage us all to take a moment to also honor those who are less fortunate. We cannot forget that even in the face of such loss, our communities have always been able to recuperate and rebuild to new heights by coming together.

I wish you a warm holiday season among family and friends, a Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it, and peace and prosperity to all New Yorkers in 2013.

Sincerely,


Governor Cuomos Facebook Page Governor Cuomos Twitter Feed
Governor Cuomos Facebook Page



This is a message from the New York State Executive Chamber, State Capitol, Albany, NY 12224.
If you'd prefer not to receive e-mail like this, please click here for our unsubscribe options.
Our privacy policy is available here.
Copyright 2012 New York State. All rights reserved.

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2637/5483 - Release Date: 12/24/12
.

secret agent man Barry Yomtov, former President of

Teamsters Local 858 which represented the New York City OTB Managers (and Nassau OTB employees) was a NYC OTB Manager. He became a "Business Agent" for Teamsters Local 707 in exchange for the compelled cash stream of Nassau OTB union dues to help prop up Local 707 whose finances and pension plan are in less than poor shape.

 

New city OTB bid is a loser

  • Last Updated: 3:47 AM, December 18, 2012
  • Posted: 1:08 AM, December 18, 2012
The city’s former OTB workers finished out of the money yesterday.
Gov. Cuomo vetoed a bill that would have allowed Catskill Off-Track Betting to open parlors in the city, hiring back old OTB workers, and another bill to provide health insurance to retired city OTB workers.
District Council 37, which represented the former OTB workers, and most members of the City Council had pushed for the Catskill bill, saying it would put back to work hundreds of employees laid off when the state shut New York City OTB two years ago.
But Mayor Bloomberg opposed it, saying the city should control OTB parlors within its boundaries.
Cuomo said the Catskill bill included no business plan, adding he wants a comprehensive gambling plan for the state. He said the health-insurance bill included no funding.

Greeks are banned from betting at Nassau OTB

while Andrew Cuomo prays he will be King?

ehardman@becketfund.org

pinion














When Christmas Was Banned in Massachusetts

For the Pilgrims, Dec. 25 was not a day for 'gaming or reveling in the streets.'

Does it sometimes seem as if the Christmas wars—namely the battle between secularists and believers over how and where Christmas and Hanukkah (not to mention other faiths' holidays) should be recognized—have been around forever? If so, you're not far off. The opening shots of the war, at least in America, were fired in Plymouth Colony itself. And after nearly 400 years, it's past time we learned our lesson and ceased hostilities.
Both factions still make the same fundamental mistake the Pilgrims did in Plymouth Colony. In Plymouth, culture was served up in one simple, strong flavor: Pilgrim. The Pilgrims were in charge and they knew it. Dissidents, and they were few, were not allowed to voice their dissent, let alone protest.
The contrast between October and December 1621 in Plymouth is a telling illustration of culture Pilgrim-style. In October, the Pilgrims held what has come to be called the First Thanksgiving. It lasted several days, featuring marksmanship and other contests in addition to good food. In short, it was about as communal and festive as the Pilgrims could ever be. Two months later, however, on "the day called Christmas Day," their leader, Governor William Bradford, recorded in his journal that he "called them out to work."
That was normal. For the Pilgrims, Dec. 25 was a day just like any other. Christmas, they thought, was a "papist" invention. Unlike their feast days, they couldn't find it in the Bible, so they wouldn't celebrate it. The previous year, they had spent their first Christmas in Plymouth splitting lumber.
But a year later not everyone agreed. Some newly arrived colonists objected that "it went against their consciences to work" on Christmas. So Bradford grudgingly excused them "till they were better informed" and led the wiser, more veteran colonists away to work. Returning at noon, however, he was horrified to discover the newcomers "in the street at play, openly" engaged in various sports.
In other words, the newcomers were doing exactly what the Pilgrims had done two months earlier. But this was different. This was no Pilgrim-proclaimed holiday. This was that dangerous innovation—Christ's Mass.
The governor knew what he had to do. He confiscated their sports equipment, telling them that if they insisted on celebrating Christmas as a "matter of devotion" they could do so privately at home, "but there should be no gaming or reveling in the streets." It was no isolated tantrum. A generation later, the colony formally outlawed Christmas for 22 years.
The double standard was blatant. Only two months before they suppressed the Christmas revelers, the Pilgrims had held their own "gaming and reveling" for Thanksgiving. They knew well that it's only natural for people to want to celebrate special times together. A holiday spent in enforced privacy is not much of a holiday at all.
Suppressing the Christmas revelers was obviously a cruel thing to do. But here we are, nearly 400 years later, still debating whether to allow religious holidays out in public or, God forbid, on public property. Some alarmists fear public display of any faith tradition but their own. Others seek to paper over the nation's diversity of traditions by insisting on a homogenized, religion-free culture. (If they had lived in Plymouth Colony, no doubt their answer to Christmas would have been to ban Thanksgiving, too.)
All the alarmists agree on this much, though: Others' holiday celebrations are tolerable only in private, and never in the public square—a vintage 1621 solution. "Ah, but you see," they all say, "religion in public is uniquely divisive. That's why the Constitution restricts it."
Nonsense. Elsewhere in the world, people fight and even slaughter each other over ethnic differences at least as much as they do over religious ones. And our Constitution bars government ethnic preferences just as stringently as it does religious ones. Yet our courts are not clogged with English-Americans seeking to enjoin St. Patrick's Day parades. It's obvious that municipal embrace and even sponsorship of them is not a harbinger of ethnic cleansing to come. It's simply government acknowledgment of one of many ethnic elements in our culture.
There's no reason—constitutional or otherwise—why governments cannot do the same and welcome public displays of menorahs, Christmas trees, nativity scenes and the like as simply some of the many religious elements in our culture.
Four hundred years is plenty long enough. Let's climb out of the 17th century and call a halt to the Christmas wars.
Mr. Hasson is the founder of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the author of "The Right to be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America" (Image, 2012), from which this is adapted.



HI-
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.

Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348 

Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012


Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.