OTB working families

demand equal opportunity to work, bet and/or pray. All the OTBs, public benefit corporations, must be open 365 days of the year  (when tracks are running that people want to bet), just like the NY Lottery and the slot machines.



Working should not be only for people who are not "of counsel"?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

February 11, 2015

Speaker Heastie Announces Budget Staff Appointments

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced today that he has appointed Blake G. Washington to serve as secretary to the Ways and Means Committee and he has appointed Philip Fields to serve as director of Budget Studies.
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Blake Washington as secretary to the Ways and Means Committee and Philip Fields as the director of Budget Studies. Mr. Washington and Mr. Fields have been an integral part of the Assembly's fiscal team for many years and both possess a tremendous wealth of knowledge on fiscal and programmatic issues," said Heastie. "As we make our preparations for the SFY 2015-16 budget negotiations, I am confident that we have selected two of the most skilled individuals to guide us as we uphold our commitment to fight for a budget that prioritizes the needs of working families across our great state."
Washington began his career with the Ways and Means Committee as a legislative budget analyst. He also served as a senior and principal budget analyst until being appointed director of Budget Studies. Prior to joining the Assembly staff, he served as a probation officer in Sullivan County. He earned a master's degree in Criminal Justice and a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Sociology from the State University at Albany.
Fields most recently served as deputy fiscal director for the Assembly. Prior to that, he served as senior transportation analyst for the Ways and Means Committee, senior analyst for the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee, and analyst for the Real Property Taxation Committee. Fields is the deputy chair of the Schenectady County Legislature. He currently chairs the County Rules Committee as well as the County Ways

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 

Home > LI 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.