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Farmingdale OTB / Google Maps image
Nassau OTB closing another branch to cut costs
In its continuing effort to trim expenses to offset declining horseracing revenue, Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corp. is closing its Farmingdale branch and selling the property.
The 6,800-square-foot building on 1.42 acres at 4747 Hempstead Turnpike that’s been owned and operated by Nassau OTB for the last 30 years is contracted to be sold to Living Faith Christian Church for $3.215 million.
Nassau OTB President Joseph Cairo said the Farmingdale branch is being sold to offset shrinking betting handle.
“We have to take every avenue we can to cut our costs,” Cairo told LIBN.
The Farmingdale betting office is the third location to be closed by Nassau OTB in the last five years, following the shutting of branches in Wantagh and Freeport. In 2014, Nassau OTB closed the 5,500-square-foot betting parlor it had been leasing in the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream and recently relocated it to a 3,000-square-foot location a block away, saving about $38,000 a month in rent.
Cairo says Nassau OTB’s downsizing has been necessitated by its steadily declining betting revenue. Between 2009 and 2013, the agency’s handle dropped 15 percent, from $257.6 million to $219.5 million, according to a report from the state comptroller’s office. It’s betting take fell another 10 percent in 2014.
While it’s been downsizing its branch offices in recent years, Nassau OTB has expanded its Fast Track operations, now located inside 16 bars and restaurants. The comptroller’s office report found that while Nassau OTB’s branch locations have an 11 percent expenses-to-handle ratio, the more cost-effective Fast Track locations have a 4 percent expenses-to-handle ratio, though those Fast Track operations only account for about 4 percent of OTB’s total handle. Each of Nassau OTB’s branch offices lost money in 2013, with its Teletheater at the Race Palace in Plainview losing the most–$1.1 million–that year.
Nassau OTB currently employs about 178 people, that’s down from 250 employees five years ago, according to Barry Yomtov, business manager for Teamsters Local 707, which represents the OTB workers.
Cairo said the Farmingdale branch has 17 employees who the agency will be resituated “on a seniority basis as best we can.” Cairo said the Farmingdale location could close by the end of the month, leaving six remaining OTB branches in Carle Place, Franklin Square, Levittown, Oceanside, Plainview and Valley Stream.
Meanwhile, Nassau OTB is awaiting approval from the state gaming commission for its deal with Genting New York that would put 1,000 video lottery terminals that had been earmarked for Belmont Park to be sited instead at the Resorts World racino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
The deal would net Nassau OTB annual payments of at least $25 million once the machines were operational and $9 million a year for the first two years during construction of the Aqueduct expansion.
“If that happens it will be a positive for OTB and Nassau County,” Cairo said.
But even with that expected income boost, Cairo said it’s not OTB’s intention to prop up its horse racing operations with gaming revenue.
“We’re looking to cut losses on the racing side,” he said. “We want to get to the break-even point.”
With the Belmont Stakes being run Saturday, Nassau OTB officials are hoping for another big payday. Last year, the agency took in a record $3.174 million when American Pharoah won the race and took the Triple Crown. But these days, those healthy handles are few and far between.
“They can’t survive just on horse racing,” Yomtov said. “We need the gaming. The only reason they got the VLTs was because horse racing is just going down the toilet.”
Read more: http://libn.com/2016/06/06/nassau-otb-closing-another-branch-to-cut-costs/#ixzz4AqeYHNss
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