Democrat John Brooks officially unseated freshman New York State Sen. Michael Venditto (R-Massapequa) following a five-week-long recount, although the upset victory is not expected to tip the balance of power in Albany.
Brooks, a former Seaford school board member, beat Venditto by 258 votes in the Nassau County portion of the 8th state Senate district, and that margin of victory could rise when hundreds of remaining paper ballots are counted Friday in the Suffolk County side of the South Shore district, officials said.
Stop scratching on holidays
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.
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.
“This is not my win alone, this is a win for all Long Island families,” Brooks said. “Folks, I am going to Albany for you. I will work everyday to make you proud. I will work everyday to keep my campaign promises of cutting property taxes, funding education, and ending corruption in Albany.”
Brooks initially had a 33-vote margin in the unofficial election results, a close call that triggered a recount hinging on more than 8,000 absentee and other paper ballots. Brooks was confident that the recount was going his way when he declared victory two weeks ago, when more than 1,000 of those ballots were challenged in court. Venditto conceded the race Thursday.
“The campaign is over and all of the votes have finally been tallied,” Venditto said. “I would like to congratulate Senator-Elect John Brooks on his victory. I ask all residents of the 8th Senatorial District to join with me in supporting Senator-Elect Brooks during his upcoming term. Together we can make our great District even better.”
Venditto, a former Nassau County legislator who won his first two-year term to the state Senate in 2014, is the son of Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto, who pleaded not guilty in October to federal corruption charges. Although the senator was not charged in connection with his father’s alleged bribery and kickback scheme, the case is believed to have impacted the race.
Democrats technically now have a 32-31 majority in the state Senate, but GOP lawmakers are expected to maintain control of the chamber because a conservative Democratic senator from Brooklyn who sided with Republicans. That leaves Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Smithtown) in control when the legislature begins its next session in January.
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