Hon. George Maragos Nassau County Comptroller

Office of the Comptroller 240 Old Country Road Mineola, New York 11501 Tel:  (516) 571-2386 Fax:  (516) 571-5900 nccomptroller@nassaucountyny.gov

December 29, 2016

Dear Mr. Leeds:

Thank you for contacting our office to express your concerns about the Nassau County OTB (also known as Nassau Downs) and how it is managed. The Comptroller’s Office takes constituent concerns very seriously.  We sincerely appreciate it when any concerned citizen brings an issue to our attention.

You had asked the Comptroller to look into “how Nassau County OTB is managed.”  I have now had the opportunity to review the extensive materials that you were kind enough to forward, as well as to review certain statutory authority relevant to this matter.

As you are aware, Nassau OTB is a public benefit corporation.  Pursuant to Article V, section 1 of the New York State Constitution, the New York State Comptroller is expressly authorized to audit New York State Regional Off-Track Betting Corporations.  The authority of the New York State Comptroller to audit OTB is also set forth in Article 3 of the New York General Municipal law [NY CLS Gen Mun Law §33, 34].  In addition, pursuant to Section 516 of the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law, regional Off-Track Betting Corporations are subject to the auditing authority of the New York State Comptroller.  Indeed, his office released an audit of Nassau OTB in September 2015.  

As was noted on page 5 of his September 2015 audit, statutory restrictions on the distributions of revenue from operations “significantly limits [OTB’s] ability to fund operations.”  The report went on to observe that all seven (7) branch locations that were open during 2013 lost money.  Id.  While this office has the concurrent authority to audit the Nassau County OTB, we are not authorized to audit other OTB operations in New York State. The 2015 audit found that although “the Corporations have implemented recommendations made by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) from a prior audit,” 2015 audit at 10, “they have continued to experience fiscal decline.” Among the recommendations previously made by the NYS Comptroller were actions to be taken both by the various corporations as well as actions to be taken by the New York State Legislature.  In response to the 2015 audit by the NYS Comptroller, Nassau OTB stated that it is looking to the State Legislature and the Governor to make changes to the statutory scheme for distributing revenues.

For these reasons, and because some of the major issues confronting Nassau OTB also affect the other OTB corporations (such as macroeconomic trends), it is more appropriate for your concerns to be addressed to the New York State Comptroller.

Once again, I wish to thank you for raising your concerns about Nassau OTB.

Very truly yours,

Michael E. Olney

Counsel to the Comptroller

www.nassaucountyny.gov/Comptroller

facebook.com/NCComptroller ● twitter.com/NCComptroller ●youtube.com/NCComptroller