Dear Attorney General Eric Schneiderman:
The Bettors of the State of New York and the employees of the remaining OTBs, public benefit corporations, have no standing to ask for your Opinion to the following simple questions with seemingly obvious answers::
1. Will the Attorney General defend the constitutionality of NY PML Sec 105?
2. Does NY PML Sec 105 apply to Nassau OTB?
3. Does NY PML Sec 105 violate the rights of New York Bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3?
4. Is NY PML Sec 105 vague, indefinite and/or overly broad as the term "Easter Sunday" does not define one and only one Sunday in all years (see eg Gregorian and Julian Calendars)?
I hope that you will sua sponte issue an Opinion as to the above so that bettors may bet, workers may work or not as they wish, and the State and its subdivisions make money. There are tracks running all across the United States every day of the year that bettors want to bet. Track calendars may be found at eg www.ntra.com<http://www.ntra.com> ;. The OTBs also sell New York Lottery tickets which are drawn every day of the year. The OTBs also cash non IRS Lottery tickets in cash for any sum, a convenience for many Lotto Players.
It is critical in these current time that the OTBs are open when customers want to bet. I believe that your Opinion will belatedly validate the actions of New York City OTB taken on the advice of its Counsel in 2003.
Sincerely yours,
January 5, 2012
Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News
articles.nydailynews.com/.../18220335_1_racing-and-wagering-boar...
Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...
§ 105. Supplementary regulatory powers of the board. Notwithstanding
any inconsistent provision of law, the board through its rules and
regulations or in allotting dates for racing or in licensing race
meetings at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted shall be empowered
to: (i) permit racing at which pari-mutuel betting is conducted on any
or all dates from the first day of January through the thirty-first day
of December, inclusive of Sundays but exclusive of December twenty-fifth
and Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday; and (ii) fix minimum and maximum
charges for admission at any race meeting.
See also
http://www.liherald.com/elmont/elmont/stories/Legislation-would-strengthen-state-OTB-corporations,31667
March 29, 2011 | 2361 views
Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News
Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...
News
Off Track Betting to push for Palm Sunday opening
Friday, January 23, 2009By PAUL POST, The Saratogian
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Off Track Betting officials say the plan to push for legislation that would allow them to stay open on Palm Sunday.
State Racing Law prohibits live racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday. By extension, the state Racing and Wagering Board has ruled that OTBs may not conduct business, either.
But OTB leaders say they’re losing several million dollars worth of wagering, a portion of which goes back to the cash-strapped state and county governments.
"It’s going to be part of our legislative agenda this year," Capital Region OTB President John Signor said. "In my view it’s a no-brainer. It’s very competitive out there. By not allowing it you’re driving bettors to out-of-state wagering sites."
Non-New York thoroughbred tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne conduct Palm Sunday racing along with The Meadowlands in New Jersey where harness racing is held. New York bettors should be allowed to wager on those races at OTBs or at New York racetrack simulcast venues, Signor said.
In 2003, New York City Off Track Betting challenged the law and stayed open on Palm Sunday, generating about $1.5 million in handle. However, the Racing and Wagering Board said the entity didn’t obtain approval to alter its plan of operation and imposed a $5,000 fine.
The next year, New York City OTB formally asked for approval to change its plan of operation and was denied.
"We have not tested it since then," President Raymond Casey said. "If you have a specific directive from a regulator you need to obey that."
But with the state facing a projected $15 billion budget deficit, others say it’s time to revisit the matter. "I’ve been an advocate for more than 30 years to have betting on Palm Sunday," Catskill Regional OTB President Donald Groth said. "It would be one small step to increase business."
The Racing and Wagering Board’s makeup has undergone major changes since 2003 including a new chairman, John Sabini, who took office last August. Spokesman Joseph Mahoney said that no one has brought the matter before the board this year.
"There’s been no recent legal analysis about this," he said. "We’re not bound by previous decisions. If the issue was raised, we would conduct a review and decide based upon the relevant information."
The Palm Sunday debate is one more example of the way state leaders are turning to gambling as a way to solve New York’s fiscal woes. In December, Gov. David Paterson proposed putting video lottery terminals at Belmont Park in addition to Aqueduct, where Buffalo-based Delaware North Companies is scheduled to operate a 4,500-machine racino.
In addition to VLTs, the Lottery Division has talked with the governor about expanding gaming to include electronic table games such as poker, blackjack and 21 that are very similar to traditional forms of casino gambling.
Several years ago, Senator Bill Larkin, R-New Windsor, introduced legislation (S-1199) that would have overturned the Palm Sunday provision. However, it got bottled up and died in committee in 2005.
"It kept getting more and more opposition from people who don’t like gambling," spokesman Steve Casscles said.
The current financial crisis could change that, however.
Jackson Leeds is a part-time cashier for Nassau Regional Off Track Betting on Long Island. As a taxpayer advocate, he says it’s incumbent on the state to allow OTBs to stay open on Palm Sunday.
"Nobody has any money," he said. "The state should be glad to allow it. It’s the universal common denominator —cash."
URL: http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2009/01/23/news/doc49792c71efcfd313925503.prtState Racing Law prohibits live racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday. By extension, the state Racing and Wagering Board has ruled that OTBs may not conduct business, either.
But OTB leaders say they’re losing several million dollars worth of wagering, a portion of which goes back to the cash-strapped state and county governments.
"It’s going to be part of our legislative agenda this year," Capital Region OTB President John Signor said. "In my view it’s a no-brainer. It’s very competitive out there. By not allowing it you’re driving bettors to out-of-state wagering sites."
Non-New York thoroughbred tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne conduct Palm Sunday racing along with The Meadowlands in New Jersey where harness racing is held. New York bettors should be allowed to wager on those races at OTBs or at New York racetrack simulcast venues, Signor said.
In 2003, New York City Off Track Betting challenged the law and stayed open on Palm Sunday, generating about $1.5 million in handle. However, the Racing and Wagering Board said the entity didn’t obtain approval to alter its plan of operation and imposed a $5,000 fine.
The next year, New York City OTB formally asked for approval to change its plan of operation and was denied.
"We have not tested it since then," President Raymond Casey said. "If you have a specific directive from a regulator you need to obey that."
But with the state facing a projected $15 billion budget deficit, others say it’s time to revisit the matter. "I’ve been an advocate for more than 30 years to have betting on Palm Sunday," Catskill Regional OTB President Donald Groth said. "It would be one small step to increase business."
The Racing and Wagering Board’s makeup has undergone major changes since 2003 including a new chairman, John Sabini, who took office last August. Spokesman Joseph Mahoney said that no one has brought the matter before the board this year.
"There’s been no recent legal analysis about this," he said. "We’re not bound by previous decisions. If the issue was raised, we would conduct a review and decide based upon the relevant information."
The Palm Sunday debate is one more example of the way state leaders are turning to gambling as a way to solve New York’s fiscal woes. In December, Gov. David Paterson proposed putting video lottery terminals at Belmont Park in addition to Aqueduct, where Buffalo-based Delaware North Companies is scheduled to operate a 4,500-machine racino.
In addition to VLTs, the Lottery Division has talked with the governor about expanding gaming to include electronic table games such as poker, blackjack and 21 that are very similar to traditional forms of casino gambling.
Several years ago, Senator Bill Larkin, R-New Windsor, introduced legislation (S-1199) that would have overturned the Palm Sunday provision. However, it got bottled up and died in committee in 2005.
"It kept getting more and more opposition from people who don’t like gambling," spokesman Steve Casscles said.
The current financial crisis could change that, however.
Jackson Leeds is a part-time cashier for Nassau Regional Off Track Betting on Long Island. As a taxpayer advocate, he says it’s incumbent on the state to allow OTBs to stay open on Palm Sunday.
"Nobody has any money," he said. "The state should be glad to allow it. It’s the universal common denominator —cash."
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Published on Daily Racing Form (http://www.drf.com)
11/25/2011 1:35 PM
Crist: New York restrictions defy belief
By
Steven Crist
Top left position photo:
Photo
As things now stand, Aqueduct will not be allowed to stage live racing or accept simulcast wagers through its NYRA Rewards account-betting service on April 1 or April 8, the 2012 dates for Palm and Easter Sunday. This already was an absurd prohibition, completely out of step with the rest of the country and with other commerce within the state – you can drink, buy lottery tickets, visit your local peep show on those two holidays, but not bet on a horse race.
The opening of the Resorts World casino at Aqueduct last month makes the situation all the nuttier: No law prevents the slot machines and robot-dealt table games from running on those Sundays, so it will be business as usual at the casino but no racing and wagering at the track itself. If there is a theological justification for this bizarre piece of public policy, its mysteries have not been revealed.
If this indefensible contradiction is somehow not enough to convince lawmakers it is time to scrap the ban, they should consider that the way the racing and religious calendars coincide next year further discriminates against New York horseplayers: Those two Sundays are the closing dates of two major meetings, with mandatory payouts of jackpot bets currently scheduled for two days that many New Yorkers would be shut out of those pools.
Sunday, April 1, is not only Palm Sunday and April Fool’s Day but closing day of the Fair Grounds meeting that opened on Thanksgiving with a new Black Gold 5 wager – a daily pick five where 50 percent of the net pool is carried over unless there is a single, unique winning ticket. It remains to be seen whether the new bet will attract much national interest and handle – the opening-day pool was just $5,465, with a $2,049 carryover to Friday – but the closing-day pool should be a good one because of the mandatory payout: Any carryover, and the entire net pool, will be paid out April 1 whether zero or 100 people pick five. New Yorkers could spend the winter playing the bet and then be excluded from participating on the day of the payout.
That was what almost happened last year with the final day of Gulfstream’s Rainbow Six, a 10-cent, six-race version of the Black Gold 5. Once again Gulfstream’s closing day is scheduled for Easter Sunday this year, which is April 8. Last year, because New York and Kentucky bettors would not be able to play it on Sunday, Gulfstream moved the mandatory-payout day to Saturday, which was an improvement but still left Easter-deprived horseplayers on the outside of playing a one-day mandatory-payout pool on Easter Sunday.
Every racing entity in the state is in favor of racing on Palm and Easter Sundays, and no one can argue with a straight face that lotto and slots are okay on those occasions but racing horses would be sinful. Still, no politician has been willing to sponsor a change, fearful of angering a tiny number of religious zealots who would accuse of them launching a War on Palm Sunday.
Perhaps, though, the racino situation and the growth of these national jackpot bets are enough to move the argument outside of religious territory. The prohibitions on those two Sundays stems from a time when racing was the only legal form of gambling in New York, and they make no common or legal sense in an era of always-open lotteries and racinos. If they can’t see that, perhaps the legislators can see that continuing these bans will only encourage more New Yorkers to open out-of-state betting accounts, shipping money out of state instead of through the New York tracks and OTB’s.
That reduces it to a pretty simple proposition: The Aqueduct racino was opened to step the exodus of local casino-betting betting dollars to neighboring states. How about opening the Aqueduct racetrack those two Sunday to do the same?
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