have you ever condidered the common defects and deficiencies of the otb system and nyra?
mccaffrey furhermore has said at a general union meeting that he will do nothing to s that nassau otb is open without religious preference.
when tracks are running without the state of new york that bettors want to bet, nassau otb must be open if if new york riders have no desire to race in ny on said days.
Claude Solnik
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.
i wish you success in your negotiations
Jeff Johnston - Aqueduct, Arlington Park, Belmont Park, Belterra, Canterbury Park, Churchill Downs, Ellis Park, Fairmount Park, Hawthorne, Indiana Grand, Keeneland, Kentucky Downs, Meadowlands, Monmouth, Prairie Meadows, Saratoga, Turfway Park
12/21/2017 3:40PM
Standstill in negotiations between NYRA and Jockeys' Guild raises talk of work stoppage
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Negotiations between the New York Racing Association and the Jockeys’ Guild over a contract regarding health benefits and insurance have stalled, creating the possibility of a work stoppage at Aqueduct beginning with the Jan. 6 card.
According to Tom Kennedy, an attorney for the Jockeys’ Guild, the Guild is seeking a three-year contract with NYRA that calls for no increase in benefit payments in 2018 and a 1 percent increases in 2019 and 2020. Kennedy said Thursday that NYRA has refused to sign the contract and is seeking to pay less than it did in 2017.
Kennedy said that if there is not a contract agreement, Guild members who qualify to receive benefits from NYRA – that is, jockeys who rode a minimum of 200 mounts or 51 percent of their total mounts in a year at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga – would refuse to accept riding assignments beginning Jan. 1. Entries for the Jan. 6 card are taken on Jan. 1, while entries for the preceding three race days – Jan. 1, 4, and 5 – are taken in December, when the contract is still valid.
“The actions of the jockeys are for the jockeys to determine, and they as individuals are going to make a decision,” Kennedy said Thursday. “A number of them have decided if NYRA is refusing to renew the agreement they will start not accepting mounts on Jan. 1 because they’re being threatened with a loss of compensation.”
Irad Ortiz Jr., who plans to ride regularly at Aqueduct this winter, said the New York-based riders have met and decided not to ride if there is no new contract.
“We have to stay together,” Ortiz said. “We’re not asking for more or less than we have right now, we’re just asking for the same thing. If they don’t do it, I guess we’re going to have to stop riding. We have to stay together. Nobody can do something different, then it’s going to be a mess. We’re all jockeys.”
Of course, Ortiz as well as Javier Castellano, who was in New York on Thursday to ride, have the ability to ride at Gulfstream Park, whereas some of the other riders would not get the same opportunities out of town. Though riding at Aqueduct this week, Castellano will head to Florida beginning next week.
Castellano, the reigning four-time Eclipse Award-winning rider and 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, said he and other veterans, such as John Velazquez, have been part of the negotiations since October with Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations.
“Luckily, we are in the position to fight for the little guy,” Castellano said. “The little guy is not going to go to Marty Panza and knock on the door, ‘Hey Marty, can you give me the benefits?’ ”
Kennedy said that NYRA is the only major racing organization that has not agreed, at least in principle, to a new contract with the Guild moving forward. He and Castellano both said that The Stronach Group and Churchill Downs have an agreement in principle with the jockeys for at least 2018.
“I don’t feel like from NYRA that we have any support lately,” Castellano said. “Every single track in the United States, they support us. I feel like everybody is disappointed about NYRA – all the jockeys. We have a meeting of the jockeys, and they refused. They don’t want to take entries.”
Panza, saying he wouldn’t negotiate in the press, would only say, “NYRA is one of the strongest supporters of its jockey colony in America.” He declined further comment.
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