Nassau OTB fails to make $5 million payment to county
Video Lottery Terminals at Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack. Credit: Danielle Silverman
Nassau Regional Off Track Betting Corp. failed to make a $5 million payment to Nassau County in May as it struggled to cope with sharply reduced revenues during the coronavirus shutdown, agency officials said.
Nassau OTB had been on track to pay Nassau $20 million in 2020 in profits from video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, where Nassau OTB has dedicated machines.
OTB, which makes quarterly payments to Nassau, made its first $5 million payment last August, the second in November and the third in February.
But the agency, which closed down most of its business in March, did not make the $5 million payment scheduled for May 15.
Nassau OTB President Joseph Cairo said, “we feel confident that we could have made the $5 million payment to the county quarterly, except the pandemic turned the world upside down.”
OTB can't pay the county until its auditor conducts a review of OTB financials. The review was delayed due to the coronavirus shutdown, said Cairo, who also is chairman of the Nassau Republican Committee.
Nassau County had budgeted $21.94 million in revenue from Nassau OTB in its 2020 budget: $20 million for VLT profits at Aqueduct, and $1.94 million in fees.
The betting agency gets $25 million annually from casino operator Genting New York LLC, for the VLT machines, and provides $20 million annually to the county in profits.
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