Claude Solnik
(631) 913-4244
Long
Island Business News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma,
NY 11779-7348
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.
What is Rabinowitz's position on the constitutionality of NY PML Sec 109 and the closing of Nassau OTB on Roman Catholic Palm Sunday and Roman Catholic Easter Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday and Greek Orthodox Palm Sunday?
Casinos are open 365 days of the year.
The NY Lottery is open 365 days of the year.
You must be able to bet at Nassau OTB on races held without the State of New York 365 days of the year.
NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 is not just for people like Andrew Cuomo.
No comments:
Post a Comment