ny pml sec 109 is known only to those who once bet at nyc otb?
Cuomo claims federal funds covered
Thanks for the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy, if you give me a mailing address.
Claude Solnik
Long Island Business News
2150 Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
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.
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.
$30M tunnel retiling project
Gov. Cuomo on Monday chalked up his $20 million to $30 million retiling project of two city tunnels in blue and gold colors to much-needed Hurricane Sandy repairs and claimed they were paid for with federal funds.
The governor trumpeted the pricey vanity project — which he ordered the cash-strapped MTA to undertake — as something “all New Yorkers should be proud of.”
“The two tunnels were damaged by Hurricane Sandy. They were paid for by the federal funds. It’s called FEMA funds to rebuild after the hurricane,” Cuomo said at an unrelated press conference before jetting off to Puerto Rico to participate in rebuilding projects. “There was no possibility to use those funds for maintenance and operation or anything else as your question implies.”
The Post reported that the white tiles in the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels were changed to the state’s official blue-and-gold colors at Cuomo’s behest — and to the tune of an extra $20 million to $30 million.
The costly upgrades were buried in two contract amendments worth $62.6 million.
On Monday, Cuomo said it cost $588 million to completely restore the two tunnels after Sandy.
“There was extensive damage. The walls in the tunnels were damaged and had to be redone,” he said. “The electrical systems, the walls, the cement, everything had to be retiled, the new ceiling, new systems, so that all had to be redone.”
Then, he crowed, “All federal funds done on time and on budget and done well and done right and all New Yorkers should be proud of it.”
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