Nassau OTB casino deal expected to take money from racing
SARATOGA SPRINGS >> An 11th-hour deal in this year’s state budget could take millions of dollars away from racing, an industry leader says.
The state has approved a plan to let financially-struggling Nassau County Off Track Betting Corp. have 1,000 video lottery terminals at the large Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack.
At present, the 5,544 gaming machines there provide a substantial benefit to thoroughbred racing -- the breeding industry gets 1.5 percent of revenues, while New York Racing Association gets 7 percent, and another 7.5 percent boosts purses at Saratoga Race Course, Aqueduct and Belmont Park.
However, no revenue from the 1,000 new machines will be earmarked for racing.
This could cost the breeding industry $2.5 million per year, while purses and NYRA could take a nearly $12 million hit each, said Jeff Cannizzo, New York Thoroughbred Breeders executive director.
“Breeding fund revenues are roughly $20 million per year, so that’s a more than 10 percent decline for breeders alone,” he said.
Aside from the financial impact, many racing leaders are upset by the Nassau OTB casino deal on principle alone.
When the casino was approved, the contract called for racing to get a set percentage of revenues.
“Now they’re changing the rules,” Cannizzo said.
This is the same complaint lodged against Gov. Andrew Cuomo early this summer, when he proposed taking some casino revenue away from racing and putting it in staff coffers, for education.
Many details of the OTB casino deal, which require state Gaming Commission approval, are still unknown.
Genting New York LLC, the company that runs the casino, has unveiled plans for a major expansion.
Until then, however, Cannizzo is concerned that 1,000 of the machines already there will simply be dedicated to Nassau OTB before new machines are added. So none of their revenue would go to racing.
“We’ve gotten no assurances,” he said.
In a letter to state officials, Cannizzo wrote, “In our meeting with the Gaming Commission, we were informed that despite the legislative intent for only new VLT machines to be designated as Nassau OTB machines, there is a high probability that existing Resorts World VLT machines will be transferred to Nassau OTB to facilitate the startup of Nassau OTB’s VLT operations. This maneuver, if it occurs, would have a significant and immediate negative impact on the Thoroughbred Breeding Fund, purses as well as NYRA’s operations and capital expenditure accounts.”
The casino is located in Queens. But the 1,000 new VLTs would be for Nassau County, and the City of New York would get none of the revenue from them.
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