Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
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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.
NY judge declares fantasy-sports betting unconstitutional
Fantasy-sports betting faces an uncertain future in New York after a judge ruled that a law permitting the online contests violated the state constitution.
In a ruling released Monday, Albany Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly sided with anti-gambling activists and declared the 2016 compromise measure “null and void.”
But Connolly also said that state lawmakers had the “full authority” to decriminalize daily fantasy-sports betting and that “any finding of unconstitutionality in such context would be beyond the scope of the judicial review authority.”
A lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case — who are either recovering gambling addicts or relatives of problem gamblers — claimed victory, saying fantasy-sports betting companies could no longer operate in New York because the state can’t legally regulate them.
But lawyer Neil Murray also said he would wait to see how the state reacts before taking further action against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Gaming Commission to enforce the judge’s decision.
Leading fantasy-sports betting sites DraftKings and FanDuel remained in operation, with DraftKings lawyer David Boies saying the company “can continue to offer their services to players.”
“We are continuing to study the court’s decision invalidating the regulatory structure and are committed to working with the legislature,” he added.
Another DraftKings lawyer, Josh Schiller, also said the worst-case scenario for the company would involve “a referendum so that the state can regulate it.”
A Cuomo spokesperson said only: “We’re reviewing the ruling.”
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