NY PML Sec 109 does not apply to the Belmont Cafe, a glorified OTB.
NY PML Sec 109 is unconstitutional.
NY PML Sec 109 violates the rights of NYRA bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3.
NY PML Sec 109 is vague, indefinite and/or overly broad.
If your legal education has not adequately prepared you to study such relatively simple questions ask your attorney.
Christopher Kay named as NYRA CEO, president
NEW
YORK – As a teenager, he visited Cahokia Downs in Alorton, Ill. As an
attorney, he represented stables in South Carolina and Kentucky and once
declined an offer to be a minority horse owner.
As far as racing experience goes, that’s about it for Christopher Kay.
But his background as an attorney and business executive dealing in complex issues such as land privatization was enough to convince the New York Racing Association board of directors to hire Kay, 60, as the company’s new president and CEO effective July 1.
Kay becomes the first permanent president and CEO at NYRA since Charles Hayward was fired in May 2012 as the result of a takeout scandal, in which NYRA overcharged its bettors for a 15-month period. Ellen McClain, the chief financial officer during the takeout issue, had served as interim president and CEO before resigning in April.
Kay was chosen from a pool of more than 100 prospects that were interviewed by RSR Partners, an executive search firm retained by the NYRA to assist in the search that began in February. Of that group, only 28 were racing executives, according to John Keitt, managing director of that firm. Keitt said the racing executives he interviewed did not have “the requisite skills” to handle the complexity of the NYRA job.
NYRA chairman David Skorton, who chaired the search committee that included board members Bobby Flay, Jane Rosenthal, Stuart Janney III, and Earle Mack, called Kay “a dream candidate” because “he not only cares about horse racing” but also is “a very strong manager and leader of different types of organizations.”
His lack of experience in Thoroughbred racing was not viewed as a negative by the board.
“I don’t think the racing experience is the most important thing in this regard,” Flay said after the meeting. “I think Chris Kay is incredibly well-rounded as a business person and somebody who understands management, how to motivate people, and understands there are lots of issues at NYRA that need to get cleared up, and I think he’s up to the task. Getting him comfortable with the racing product is going to be the easiest part of this. Eventually, he’ll put in people that can help in that department.”
Asked if he would hire a chief operating officer to run the day-to-day racing operations at NYRA, Kay said, “It’s going to be one of the first things I look at.”
Said Skorton: “A lot of the problems that NYRA has experienced in the past has not been because of a lack of racing savvy, it’s because of lack of governance savvy.”
Kay, who held executive positions with Toys “R” Us and Universal Parks and Resorts, most recently worked as the chief operating officer for Trust for Public Land, a non-profit organization that has closed thousands of land projects throughout the country for development of parks and the preservation of historic lands and landmarks. He left that position in February.
One of the primary issues facing the NYRA board – whose job is to have NYRA ready for re-privatization in fall 2015 – is to determine the future of Aqueduct. NYRA conducts live racing at Aqueduct six months out of the year. It shares the property with Resorts World New York, a highly successful video-lottery terminal casino with which NYRA has, over some issues, a contentious relationship.
Some have speculated that Aqueduct could close for live racing, consolidating that activity at Belmont Park, though a complete – and extremely costly – renovation of Belmont would likely be necessary to conduct racing there on a 10-month basis.
“David and the committee have said it’s one of the things we should look at,” Kay said.
Asked why he was interested in coming to NYRA, Kay said, “Number one, it’s a challenge and it’s an opportunity to do better. Those are two very important things to me. This is a world-class board and the opportunity to work with them to create a new solution is very attractive. I want to learn from the mistakes of the past, but there is so much talent around that table we can create a future for decades to come for success in horse racing and that was a very compelling reason for me to express interest in this job.”
Kay said in meeting with the board, he was advised of a three-year plan that he would attempt to execute that includes enhancing “the guest experience for people who are racing fans and recruit others to become racing fans,” get the company ready for re-privatization in fall 2015, and “improve the quality of racing and the purses at every racetrack we own and operate.”
Kay, who resides in Purchase, N.Y., said he would be leaving on Thursday for Lexington, Ky., to learn more about the Thoroughbred industry.
“I’m going to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can in every venue I can,” Kay said. “Part of the education process.”
Kay will make $300,000 as a base salary, with unspecified performance-based incentives that add up to additional $250,000 in bonuses.
“We have a balanced scorecard that we’ve developed,” Skorton said. “If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s a way to assess performance based on some quantitative metrics, like finances and things like that, there’s also qualitative metrics. I want to be very public about this: This is not a guaranteed extra $250,000. We made that very clear to Chris during the recruitment process. This is going to be performance-based, and I’m a hard grader.”
Racing also injects money into the industry, paying jockeys, trainers, grooms, etc. Hundreds of employees -- pari-mutuel clerks and racing officials -- help put on the show, which the state gets a piece of in income taxes.
All of this, worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, was lost because on an antiquated law. Not being allowed to race on Christmas or Easter is OK, but Palm Sunday? The New York Racing Authority races on Thanksgiving, and that's a holiday that the vast majority of us celebrate.
Changing this law would be a slam-dunk revenue creator.
Gerard Bringmann, Patchogue
Editor's note: The writer is both a racing fan and a practicing Catholic.
HI-
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.
As far as racing experience goes, that’s about it for Christopher Kay.
But his background as an attorney and business executive dealing in complex issues such as land privatization was enough to convince the New York Racing Association board of directors to hire Kay, 60, as the company’s new president and CEO effective July 1.
Kay becomes the first permanent president and CEO at NYRA since Charles Hayward was fired in May 2012 as the result of a takeout scandal, in which NYRA overcharged its bettors for a 15-month period. Ellen McClain, the chief financial officer during the takeout issue, had served as interim president and CEO before resigning in April.
Kay was chosen from a pool of more than 100 prospects that were interviewed by RSR Partners, an executive search firm retained by the NYRA to assist in the search that began in February. Of that group, only 28 were racing executives, according to John Keitt, managing director of that firm. Keitt said the racing executives he interviewed did not have “the requisite skills” to handle the complexity of the NYRA job.
NYRA chairman David Skorton, who chaired the search committee that included board members Bobby Flay, Jane Rosenthal, Stuart Janney III, and Earle Mack, called Kay “a dream candidate” because “he not only cares about horse racing” but also is “a very strong manager and leader of different types of organizations.”
His lack of experience in Thoroughbred racing was not viewed as a negative by the board.
“I don’t think the racing experience is the most important thing in this regard,” Flay said after the meeting. “I think Chris Kay is incredibly well-rounded as a business person and somebody who understands management, how to motivate people, and understands there are lots of issues at NYRA that need to get cleared up, and I think he’s up to the task. Getting him comfortable with the racing product is going to be the easiest part of this. Eventually, he’ll put in people that can help in that department.”
Asked if he would hire a chief operating officer to run the day-to-day racing operations at NYRA, Kay said, “It’s going to be one of the first things I look at.”
Said Skorton: “A lot of the problems that NYRA has experienced in the past has not been because of a lack of racing savvy, it’s because of lack of governance savvy.”
Kay, who held executive positions with Toys “R” Us and Universal Parks and Resorts, most recently worked as the chief operating officer for Trust for Public Land, a non-profit organization that has closed thousands of land projects throughout the country for development of parks and the preservation of historic lands and landmarks. He left that position in February.
One of the primary issues facing the NYRA board – whose job is to have NYRA ready for re-privatization in fall 2015 – is to determine the future of Aqueduct. NYRA conducts live racing at Aqueduct six months out of the year. It shares the property with Resorts World New York, a highly successful video-lottery terminal casino with which NYRA has, over some issues, a contentious relationship.
Some have speculated that Aqueduct could close for live racing, consolidating that activity at Belmont Park, though a complete – and extremely costly – renovation of Belmont would likely be necessary to conduct racing there on a 10-month basis.
“David and the committee have said it’s one of the things we should look at,” Kay said.
Asked why he was interested in coming to NYRA, Kay said, “Number one, it’s a challenge and it’s an opportunity to do better. Those are two very important things to me. This is a world-class board and the opportunity to work with them to create a new solution is very attractive. I want to learn from the mistakes of the past, but there is so much talent around that table we can create a future for decades to come for success in horse racing and that was a very compelling reason for me to express interest in this job.”
Kay said in meeting with the board, he was advised of a three-year plan that he would attempt to execute that includes enhancing “the guest experience for people who are racing fans and recruit others to become racing fans,” get the company ready for re-privatization in fall 2015, and “improve the quality of racing and the purses at every racetrack we own and operate.”
Kay, who resides in Purchase, N.Y., said he would be leaving on Thursday for Lexington, Ky., to learn more about the Thoroughbred industry.
“I’m going to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can in every venue I can,” Kay said. “Part of the education process.”
Kay will make $300,000 as a base salary, with unspecified performance-based incentives that add up to additional $250,000 in bonuses.
“We have a balanced scorecard that we’ve developed,” Skorton said. “If you’re not familiar with that term, it’s a way to assess performance based on some quantitative metrics, like finances and things like that, there’s also qualitative metrics. I want to be very public about this: This is not a guaranteed extra $250,000. We made that very clear to Chris during the recruitment process. This is going to be performance-based, and I’m a hard grader.”
Letter: Why close racetrack on Palm Sunday?
Photo credit: AP | In this photo provided by New
York Racing Association, Stay Thirsty, left, with Ramon Dominguez
aboard, captures The G1 Cigar Mile horse race at Aqueduct in New York.
(Nov. 24, 2012)
To see what's wrong up in Albany, one only
needs to look at the fact that the Aqueduct Racetrack was closed on
Palm Sunday. On an average Sunday, The Big A has a total handle of
between $6 million and $7 million, of which New York
State takes a percentage.Racing also injects money into the industry, paying jockeys, trainers, grooms, etc. Hundreds of employees -- pari-mutuel clerks and racing officials -- help put on the show, which the state gets a piece of in income taxes.
All of this, worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, was lost because on an antiquated law. Not being allowed to race on Christmas or Easter is OK, but Palm Sunday? The New York Racing Authority races on Thanksgiving, and that's a holiday that the vast majority of us celebrate.
Changing this law would be a slam-dunk revenue creator.
Gerard Bringmann, Patchogue
Editor's note: The writer is both a racing fan and a practicing Catholic.
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES IN $2M - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../open-1st-palm-sunday-otb-rakes-2m-articl...
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES
IN $2M. By Jerry Bossert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Monday, April
14, 2003, 12:00 AM. Print · Print; Comment ...OTB FACES HAND SLAP OVER PALM - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../otb-faces-hand-slap-palm-article-1.667233
Apr 16, 2003 – By Jerry Bossert
/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ... Aqueduct was also closed on Palm
Sunday, but OTB thrived on action from around the
country.
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
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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.
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