- to go to hell while he may choose to go to Church
- 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) 913-4244Long Island Business News2150 Smithtown Ave.Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidaysStop 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.
In New Jersey, New Gamblers Being Sought
more in New York »
By HEATHER HADDON
BAYONNE, N.J.—This isn't your father's off-track betting parlor.An $18 million complex called Winners, set to open this month in Bayonne, is being billed as one of the nation's most elaborate off-track wagering facilities, with plush carpeting, a granite bar and a VIP room.
Emile Wamsteker for The Wall Street Journal
Construction workers put the finishing touches on the Winners off-track wagering facility in Bayonne, which is scheduled to open this month.
"It's an attempt to try to do something different," said Jeffrey Gural, chairman of the Newmark Knight Frank real-estate firm and the developer of the Bayonne facility. "I think it's the nicest off-track wagering facility in the country."
Such facilities traditionally have evoked images of small, faded parlors that attracted older, male crowds. New York City's 54 OTB parlors closed in 2010 after declining interest, among other issues, caused the company to go bankrupt.
Mr. Gural's top-dollar experiment to paint a fresh face on off-track wagering is one of the few of its kind in North America. The city of Toronto has had success in attracting young gamblers to wagering facilities paired with upscale bars and entertainment. But whether that model can succeed in working-class Bayonne is unclear, said Eugene Christiansen, CEO of Christiansen Capital Advisors, an analysis firm that focuses on gaming.
"It's a difficult proposition," said Mr. Christiansen, who characterized Mr. Gural as a sophisticated industry player. "There are so many other ways to gamble, it's hard to recruit new consumers into this fan base."
In the early- to mid-20th century, horse racing was a booming American sport that rivaled baseball in popularity. For decades, it was one of the only forms of legalized gambling in states that allowed it, and racetracks sprang up across the U.S.
The sport saw interest decline starting in the 1960s, as state lotteries and casinos were legalized. And the industry decided against being regularly televised, further depressing interest.
In 2011, there were 45,418 horse races in the U.S., down 37% from 20 years prior, according to a survey commissioned by the Jockey Club, the breed registry for thoroughbreds.
The average age of U.S. horse-racing fans is 51, compared to 43 for football and 35 for basketball, according to a 2011 industry study conducted by the McKinsey consulting firm. About 2% of fans die each year, and only 14% of those following the sport started in the last five years, the study showed.
The complexity of horse betting has tended to deter new fans, Mr. Christiansen said.
"Not only is it hard to place a bet, but you're going to lose money real fast," he said.
New Jersey passed legislation in 2001 to allow off-track wagering facilities to open, one of the most recent states to do so. The law allowed for up to 15 facilities; there are now three freestanding facilities, along with 11 at the racetracks and Atlantic City casinos, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
The facilities have been slow to open due to the cost and local opposition. New Jersey is also at a disadvantage to neighboring states such as New York and Pennsylvania, which allow for casinos at racetracks that create bigger betting purses.
Still, off-track wagering has shown some signs of success in New Jersey.
The $8 million Favorites facility that opened in Woodbridge in 2007 has proved popular, with $94 million in bets placed there last year, according to New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority. That's about $3 million more than the total bets placed in the upscale facility in 2009 and 2010.
Favorites faced local opposition when it first petitioned to enter a strip mall in the Middlesex County township of 99,585 residents. But there have been few complaints since, Mayor John McCormick, said. Part of what's helped is Favorites' main demographic: older men.
"It's a very peaceful, mature clientele," said Mr. McCormick, who visits Favorites monthly. "Bayonne would be well-served with a facility like this."
Bayonne has largely welcomed the facility's construction on an open plot on Highway 440. Winners will create local jobs and an estimated $200,000 in new property taxes for the city of 63,024 people, said Mayor Mark Smith.
"We are excited about the grand opening of the facility, which will draw people to Bayonne from the entire metropolitan area," he said in a statement.
Whether Bayonne will be excited in return is yet to be seen.
The city distinguishes itself in its zeal for playing the lottery, a factor that the state considered when recommending the location. Bayonne's 07002 ZIP code had New Jersey's highest total dollar amount spent on state lottery sales between January 2010 and June 2012, figures provided by the state Department of Treasury show. There were nearly $95 million in lottery sales and $8 million in payouts in the city, the figures show.
The Winners facility will likely benefit from its proximity to Staten Island, where there were once at least three OTB facilities, according to Amy Silver, director of marketing for the Meadowlands. Industry data show there are an estimated 2,200 regular horse-racing bettors in the area, Ms. Silver said.
Among a dozen people interviewed in Bayonne last week, reaction to Winners was largely tempered. Younger people tended to show interest in it as a sports bar, but less so for wagering.
"It doesn't hurt to have another restaurant here," said Megan O'Connor, a 25-year-old Bayonne resident, who said she wasn't particularly interested in betting on horses.
John Rodgers, 58, a retired letter carrier with Bayonne roots, was excited to visit the new facility, but doubted his 21-year-old son would. "It's part of Americana," said Mr. Rodgers, who went to the Meadowlands on his first date with the woman who is now his wife. "Young people aren't into the racetracks. It's that MTV generation that wants instant gratification."
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
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