another NY corporation supporting religious preference, Wasserman Media Group?
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
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.
Susanne Stover,
Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
another corporate cog who couldn't care less that better tracks are running all across the US, that NY Bettors want to bet even if there is no racing in NY on Roman Catholic Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday and Palm Sunday.
DRF.Com › NYRA to increase prices, simulcast fees in 2015
After showing a profit in 2014 for the first time in 13 years,
the New York Racing Association once again plans to raise prices to its
customers as well as simulcast partners to help it maintain
profitability in 2015.
In a meeting with the Franchise Oversight Board on Monday, Susanne
Stover, NYRA’s chief financial officer, said that “NYRA plans to
selectively increase prices for group sales and parking and the fee
charged for NYRA’s simulcast signal” in 2015.
Stover did not say what those increases would be for 2015.
Reiterating figures she stated at the Nov. 12 meeting of NYRA’s
Reorganization Board of Directors, Stover said NYRA is budgeting to show
a profit of $1.5 million in 2014 and a $2.1 million profit in 2015, all
exclusive of revenue it receives from Resorts World, the casino based
at Aqueduct. In 2013, NYRA had an operating loss of $12.9 million,
according to Stover.
Stover said NYRA showed a $3.1 million increase in revenue over 2013
as a result of the increased fee it charges for its simulcast signal.
She said NYRA saw a $2.3 million increase in revenue based on an
increase in admission, box seats, and parking prices that went into
effect at Belmont and Saratoga in 2014, “something that hadn’t been done
in many years,” Stover added.
NYRA sold more than 6,000 season passes during the Saratoga meet,
capping it at that number for fear of having overcrowding in certain
areas of the track on weekends, according to NYRA president and chief
executive Chris Kay. Kay admitted Monday that that was a mistake and
said he likely won’t do that in 2015.
Stover said NYRA showed an $800,000 increase in revenue from
additional sponsorships. To that end, NYRA has retained Wasserman Media
Group, a Manhattan-based firm, to try to increase sponsorship revenue
even further in 2015.
Stover and Kay both said NYRA will look to build on its “big
race-day” concept, which was in place on Belmont Stakes Day, when there
were 10 graded stakes, and the inaugural Stars and Stripes card held in
July at Belmont.
Kay said NYRA plans to run additional graded stakes on the Travers
Day card in late August at Saratoga. NYRA is budgeting $9.6 million more
in revenue for Travers Day 2015 than in 2014.
In addition to increasing revenue, NYRA detailed a number of
cost-cutting measures in 2014 that helped it attain profitability,
including the closing of Aqueduct’s backstretch for six weeks,
reorganizing and reducing staff, a reduction in legal expenses, and
renegotiating contracts.
In 2015, NYRA plans to close the Aqueduct backstretch for a
five-month period, or when it isn’t conducting a live race meet at the
track. In order to accommodate horses, NYRA is expanding barns at
Belmont Park and expects to have 250 additional stalls at Belmont by the
end of August.
Kay said NYRA also will look to reduce the number of days it races at
Aqueduct, though he did not offer specifics. On Monday, NYRA released
its winter stakes schedule for Aqueduct’s inner-track meet, which is
scheduled to end March 22. NYRA did not indicate when the main track
would open, though the Wood Memorial is scheduled for April 4.
Kay said the reduction in foal crops over the last several years has
prompted other tracks to reduce their schedules, and NYRA should follow
suit.
“No one runs more days in America than the New York Racing
Association,” Kay said. “Other tracks have responded by running fewer
days and running fewer races on days when they do run, and that’s a very
logical approach to this situation.”
By statute, NYRA is required to card 95 days of racing between Dec. 1 and May 1.
When asked by a board member if NYRA would reduce the number of
racing dates if there wasn’t such a statute, Kay said, “Yes, we would.
To that end, we have talked to the New York breeders’ association and
the horsemen, and we all agree that we think it would be prudent, for
example, to reduce the number of days we race at Aqueduct.”
Kay said he has had meetings with the New York State Gaming
Commission to talk about that issue and called those meetings “very
productive.”
Stover said NYRA is budgeting net income of $27.3 million in 2015,
which takes into account a budgeted 3 percent reduction in handle.
Stover said NYRA is budgeting to spend $36.1 million in capital
improvements at all three of its tracks in 2015, including a
refurbishing of the Manhattan Terrace at Aqueduct, upgrades in restroom
areas and the addition of backyard video boards at Saratoga, and an
upgrade to the Long Island Railroad area at Belmont.
Stover and Kay should tell bettors why they prefer one Easter Sunday and Palm Sunday over the
other?
Yes,
very good point. The slot machines which are located at the tracks are
running that day, but not the horses. It must be one of those blue sky
laws.
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