Cuomo, firmly, loudly, and proudly supports religious preference and the denial of rights secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3.
“Cuomo needed Skelos,” John J. Bonacic, a Republican state senator who is chairman of the committee on racing, wagering and gaming, said. “I happen to think that the OTB business is a thing of the past.”
John Bonacic should come to the Branches of Nassau OTB and talk to the people who bet there et al.
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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Confidential > 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.
“Cuomo needed Skelos,” John J. Bonacic, a Republican state senator who is chairman of the committee on racing, wagering and gaming, said. “I happen to think that the OTB business is a thing of the past.”
The
first new gambling halls in New York are most likely to be “slots in a
box,” not the lavish casino resorts with hotels, restaurants and
entertainment centers promoted by state officials.
For
much of the past year, public attention has been centered on 16
competing proposals for elaborate Las Vegas-style casinos north and west
of New York City.
But
long before as many as four of those casinos are licensed, built and
opened, officials on Long Island are expecting to reap a financial
windfall from gamblers at new electronic slot machine parlors, known
fondly if derisively in the gambling industry as slots in a box, in
Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
This
month, the Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation took steps to
finance a gambling hall with 1,000 electronic slot machines, as well as
electronic baccarat and roulette table games. It is expected to open by
the end of next year.
Officials are projecting that the slot parlor will generate about $150 million in net revenue.
“We’re
probably talking $19 million to $20 million going to the county each
year, if that $150 million number is accurate,” Joseph Cairo, the
president of Nassau OTB, said.
Farther
east, the Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corporation is moving ahead with
plans for an 80,000 square-foot slot parlor with 1,000 machines, along
with bars and restaurants, on the former site of a 16-screen movie
theater in Medford.
The
company, which is emerging from bankruptcy, bought the land in October
and picked an operating partner, Delaware North, which runs Finger Lakes
Gaming and Racetrack in Farmington, N.Y. and other gambling sites.
“We’re looking to get a shovel in the ground as soon as we can,” said Philip Nolan, president of Suffolk OTB.
On
Wednesday, the state’s Gaming Facility Location Board is expected to
announce its selections for up to four resort casinos outside of New
York City. The resorts, with hotels, restaurants, shops, entertainment
halls and other amenities, are to be far larger operations than the slot
parlors.
The
developers recommended for a casino license must still be approved by
the State Gaming Commission, undergo a background check by the State
Police and complete an environmental review of the sites. The commission
expects the resorts to be built in two years, meaning completions
sometime in 2017.
New
York has no shortage of gambling halls; there are five tribal casinos
and nine racetracks with electronic slot machines. But in 2011, Governor
Andrew M. Cuomo envisioned full-scale casinos as a way to transform
economically ailing areas, by providing thousands of jobs and millions
of dollars a year in tax revenue.
The Legislature agreed to license up to four casino resorts upstate, and, in the future, up to three in the New York City area.
“This
is a big idea that we believe could bring economic energy to upstate
New York, that needs it desperately,” Mr. Cuomo said last year.
After
negotiations between the Cuomo administration and State Senator Dean G.
Skelos of Long Island, a Republican, the Legislature also allowed for
more modest slot parlors on Long Island. The OTBs were ailing
financially and Suffolk and Nassau Counties wanted the promised revenue.
Not
everyone thinks it was a good move, given the decline in the popularity
of horse racing and the increasing range of gambling options, from the
New York Lottery to slot parlors, casinos and Internet gambling.
“Cuomo
needed Skelos,” John J. Bonacic, a Republican state senator who is
chairman of the committee on racing, wagering and gaming, said. “I
happen to think that the OTB business is a thing of the past.”
Nonetheless, Nassau OTB is looking at several sites in the county and hopes to strike a tentative deal by the end of the year.
One
area that has been ruled out, Mr. Cairo said, is the “hub,” which
includes Hofstra University in Hempstead, Nassau Community College in
Garden City and the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.
Mr.
Cairo said that Stuart Rabinowitz, president of Hofstra and a member of
the Gaming Facility Location Board, had expressed misgivings about
putting the slot parlor close to those institutions.
Nassau OTB, which is being advised by Union Gaming Analytics, has yet to decide on a company to operate the gambling hall.
At
Suffolk OTB, Mr. Nolan said he was relieved that plans for the
prospective slot parlor have kept the company afloat, enabling it to
repay its creditors.
“We have an opportunity to attract a million plus people a year,” he said. “We’re very certain we’re going to be successful.”
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