BOTH THE JULIAN AND GREGORIAN CALENDARS. NASSAU OTB MUST BE OPEN 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR SO THAT BETTORS CAN BET IF THEY WISH AND WORKERS CAN WORK IF THEY WISH. THE ONLY THING NYC OTB DID HALF RIGHT WAS OPEN WHEN TRACKS WERE RUNNING THAT WE WANTED TO BET. WHETHER OR NOT BARRY YOMTOV'S CASHIERS AND MANAGERS WERE REALLY WORTH DOUBLE TIME FOR WORKING ON ANY SUNDAY IS A SEPARATE ISSUE. BARRY YOMTOV, FORMER NYC MANAGER AND PRESIDENT OF THE NOW DECEASED TEAMSTERS LOCAL 858 IS NOW THE BUSINESS AGENT FOR TEAMSTERS LOCAL 707 WHICH MERGED WITH 858,
12/07/2012 3:14PM
Crist: Catskill oversteps its boundaries with New York OTB
Last June 21, as New York lawmakers hurried toward a summer
recess, both houses of the state legislature passed a bill that would
give the Catskill Regional Offtrack Betting Corporation the right to
operate OTB parlors in New York City.
Last Wednesday, more than five months later, the bill landed on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk. Even if Cuomo does the right thing and vetoes rather than signs it, the fact that such a preposterous piece of legislation has gotten that close to becoming reality is in itself a disgrace, and further evidence of how cynically and shabbily the government treats horse racing in the Empire State.
Under the bill, Catskill OTB would have its “area of operation” redefined to include the five boroughs of New York City. This is a bit like extending the reach of Rhode Island’s state government to include California, Florida, and Texas. This would allow Catskill to set up OTB parlors throughout the city. Its chairman, Donald Groth, said in June that he hoped to have one parlor in each borough to start and eventually grow the total to at least 20 throughout the city. He even thought his new parlors could be booking bets by this past July, in time for the Saratoga meeting.
Why Catskill should take over offtrack betting in New York City – as opposed to any of the state’s other OTB’s, the tracks, the state itself or, for that matter, your brother-in-law – is not addressed in the bill.
When New York City OTB shuttered its parlors amid bankruptcy in 2010, its business was quickly absorbed by other (mostly online) entities. No one has seriously proposed bringing back NYCOTB, which did little except extract money from the racing industry to fund political patronage jobs for almost four decades.
Resuscitating NYCOTB under the leadership of Catskill – best-known as the operation whose security was so lax that it was home to the Fix Six scandal at the 2002 Breeders’ Cup – is obviously a non-starter. So how did it pass both houses of the state legislature? According to some Albany insiders, the measure was portrayed to lawmakers as a pro-labor bill that might help them court union support in the fall elections. With time running out on the vacation clock, the legislators signed off on a bill it is difficult to believe many had read or understood.
Now this unexploded shell sits on the governor’s desk, where one can only hope it is not signed into law by accident or as part of a trade for a bigger fish. If it is enacted, it will make a sham of Cuomo’s stated intention to overhaul and improve the racing industry. Part of that overhaul was supposed to include moving forward with long-stalled plans for the New York Racing Association to set up a few teletheaters in New York City, the only sensible deployment of brick-and-mortar betting facilities in the city in the online era. For Cuomo instead to cede that operation to Catskill OTB would be an embrace of a discredited OTB system that bears a large share of responsibility for the sport’s decline.
As the political blogger Tom Noonan wrote this week, “In a logical world, one would think that placing OTB’s in New York City would be part of the comprehensive review of racing that the Governor has indicated will take place under his leadership. Since the Legislature approved Cuomo’s takeover of racing with just one dissenting vote, logic would also dictate that the Legislature thinks any significant changes in the betting landscape would await that review, and that the Catskill OTB bill could wait. Or does it just come down to the same craven political considerations with the attendant patronage that sank the former NYC OTB, with the Governor acquiescing while we do our Christmas shopping?”
Perhaps the matter will come up for discussion next Wednesday at the first board meeting of the “new” New York Racing Association, which Cuomo forced under his control in June for at least the next three years. It also will be the first NYRA board meeting chaired by David Skorton, who has not spoken publicly in his new role since Cuomo appointed him to the post Oct. 18.
Skorton, president of Cornell University, is a widely respected academic administrator but has no known experience in or views about racing, and appears to have a day or two a month to devote to his new post. It will be interesting to see if he has an opinion on the Catskill bill and how quick a study he has been about the organization he will now lead. You can see for yourself: The meeting will be open to the public and broadcast live on NYRA’s website.
Stop scratching on holidays
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.
Last Wednesday, more than five months later, the bill landed on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk. Even if Cuomo does the right thing and vetoes rather than signs it, the fact that such a preposterous piece of legislation has gotten that close to becoming reality is in itself a disgrace, and further evidence of how cynically and shabbily the government treats horse racing in the Empire State.
Under the bill, Catskill OTB would have its “area of operation” redefined to include the five boroughs of New York City. This is a bit like extending the reach of Rhode Island’s state government to include California, Florida, and Texas. This would allow Catskill to set up OTB parlors throughout the city. Its chairman, Donald Groth, said in June that he hoped to have one parlor in each borough to start and eventually grow the total to at least 20 throughout the city. He even thought his new parlors could be booking bets by this past July, in time for the Saratoga meeting.
Why Catskill should take over offtrack betting in New York City – as opposed to any of the state’s other OTB’s, the tracks, the state itself or, for that matter, your brother-in-law – is not addressed in the bill.
When New York City OTB shuttered its parlors amid bankruptcy in 2010, its business was quickly absorbed by other (mostly online) entities. No one has seriously proposed bringing back NYCOTB, which did little except extract money from the racing industry to fund political patronage jobs for almost four decades.
Resuscitating NYCOTB under the leadership of Catskill – best-known as the operation whose security was so lax that it was home to the Fix Six scandal at the 2002 Breeders’ Cup – is obviously a non-starter. So how did it pass both houses of the state legislature? According to some Albany insiders, the measure was portrayed to lawmakers as a pro-labor bill that might help them court union support in the fall elections. With time running out on the vacation clock, the legislators signed off on a bill it is difficult to believe many had read or understood.
Now this unexploded shell sits on the governor’s desk, where one can only hope it is not signed into law by accident or as part of a trade for a bigger fish. If it is enacted, it will make a sham of Cuomo’s stated intention to overhaul and improve the racing industry. Part of that overhaul was supposed to include moving forward with long-stalled plans for the New York Racing Association to set up a few teletheaters in New York City, the only sensible deployment of brick-and-mortar betting facilities in the city in the online era. For Cuomo instead to cede that operation to Catskill OTB would be an embrace of a discredited OTB system that bears a large share of responsibility for the sport’s decline.
As the political blogger Tom Noonan wrote this week, “In a logical world, one would think that placing OTB’s in New York City would be part of the comprehensive review of racing that the Governor has indicated will take place under his leadership. Since the Legislature approved Cuomo’s takeover of racing with just one dissenting vote, logic would also dictate that the Legislature thinks any significant changes in the betting landscape would await that review, and that the Catskill OTB bill could wait. Or does it just come down to the same craven political considerations with the attendant patronage that sank the former NYC OTB, with the Governor acquiescing while we do our Christmas shopping?”
Perhaps the matter will come up for discussion next Wednesday at the first board meeting of the “new” New York Racing Association, which Cuomo forced under his control in June for at least the next three years. It also will be the first NYRA board meeting chaired by David Skorton, who has not spoken publicly in his new role since Cuomo appointed him to the post Oct. 18.
Skorton, president of Cornell University, is a widely respected academic administrator but has no known experience in or views about racing, and appears to have a day or two a month to devote to his new post. It will be interesting to see if he has an opinion on the Catskill bill and how quick a study he has been about the organization he will now lead. You can see for yourself: The meeting will be open to the public and broadcast live on NYRA’s website.
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> 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.
www.drf.com › News › Columnists › Steven Crist
Nov 25, 2011 – It's only 126 days until Palm Sunday and seven more until Easter, more than enough ... Exclusive content available only with a DRF Plus Plan. ... Com › News › Columnists › Steven Crist › Crist: New York restrictions defy belief ...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 ... 
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