State GOP aims to stop Cuomo from rushing pot legalization in return for keeping the infidels out of nassau otb, see ny const art1 sec 3
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
| Track Code | Track Name | Entry | Scratch | 1st Post ET | 1st Post Local | Time Zone | Stakes Race(s) | Stakes Grade | T.V. Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG | GOLDEN GATE FIELDS | 48 | 24 | 3:45 PM | 12:45 PM | PDT | |||
| LS | LONE STAR PARK | 72 | 0 | 3:35 PM | 2:35 PM | CDT | |||
| SA | SANTA ANITA PARK | 72 | 24 | 3:30 PM | 12:30 PM | PDT | |||
| SUN | SUNLAND PARK | 168 | 0 | 2:30 PM | 12:30 PM | MDT | |||
| WO | WOODBINE | 72 | 48 |
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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.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
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.
Just Say No! Stop the Reefer Madness!
The New York State Republican Party is launching a public campaign aimed at stopping Gov. Cuomo and the Democratic-run Legislature from rushing to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
The GOP is backing up its campaign with research conducted by its new policy action commission, which has analyzed the experience of pot legalization in Colorado and other states as well as medical reports.
The policy shop is headed by former Westchester legislator Julie Killian, Keith Wofford, the GOP candidate for attorney general last year and John Kennedy, currently a GOP candidate for Suffolk County Executive.
“The legalization of marijuana doesn’t make sense. There are huge dangers,” said state GOP chairman Ed Cox.
He mentioned the impact that cannabis has on the brain of young consumers and the safety hazards of motorists driving high.
Cox noted that only two years ago Cuomo labeled marijuana a “gateway drug.” But since then surrounding Massachusetts legalized weed and New Jersey may as well.
Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, also a former skeptic of legalization, are even counting on dedicating a portion of marijuana tax revenues to help fund improvements to the MTA’s much-maligned regional transit system.
Cox was dubious.
“This is all about politics,” he said.
The report by the state GOP said a better solution is decriminalizing pot possession rather than outright legalizing the sale of the drug for recreational use.
The report points to medical studies that show that marijuana smokers are bigger users of prescription drugs and that in Colorado, where pot is legal, opioid addiction is at record levels.
“Why would you want to introduce another mind altering drug?” Killian said. “I don’t think anyone wants to be on the road with more motorists who are high or impaired.”
In Colorado, 72 percent of the communities opted-out of selling marijuana. Cuomo’s proposal also would allow counties to opt-out.
Killian worried that marijuana could be end up mostly being sold in poorer, minority communities.
She also said legalizing weed also contradicts the state’s public health policy of discouraging tobacco smoking.
“What about second hand smoke? People are actually moving out of Colorado as they are worried about their kids,” Killian said.
“And there’s scientific evidence that marijuana usage brings serious mental health issues. Abuse of marijuana and alcohol are killer of dreams.”
She also maintains that there’s evidence that shows that marijuana legalization will encourage not discourage a black market because illegal drug dealers will be able to sell weed at a cheaper price than the heavily taxed state product.
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