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.
Cuomo’s sinful war with New York’s cardinal distracts from his hatred for bettors, ny const art 1 sec 3, nassau otb's orthodox employee(s), and horse racing
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 |
Gov. Cuomo is keeping up his war of words with Timothy Cardinal Dolan, so he must figure he’s winning. Then again, the cardinal has a big handicap: He feels obliged to tell the truth.
At issue are the Catholic Church’s long opposition to two bills the Legislature just passed: the Child Victims Act and the Reproductive Health Act. The gov is gleefully distorting the facts in both cases.
He charges, as he put it Monday on Albany’s WAMC radio, that “the bishops have worked to protect the church over doing justice.” No: The part of the CVA that they’ve opposed has been a provision for nearly unlimited civil lawsuits, which is a huge gift to trial lawyers — a powerful special interest that donates big-time to the Democratic Party.
Dolan, in particular, has moved aggressively to give some recompense to abuse victims. (No one pretends money alone is enough.) He’s even mortgaged land by St. Patrick’s, to the tune of $100 million, to fund the first round of payouts.
And his commission to dig up facts hidden for decades has been relentless — setting in motion the fall of a top Vatican official, DC’s ex-Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.
The gov, meanwhile, has gone so far as to suggest Pope Francis’ words of support for abuse victims somehow constitute an endorsement of the CVA.
But Cuomo’s distortions on the abortion issue are even more egregious, because he doesn’t want to discuss the actual details.
But Cuomo’s distortions on the abortion issue are even more egregious, because he doesn’t want to discuss the actual details.
The gov keeps pretending the RHA merely codifies Roe v. Wade and current practices. In fact, it extends New York abortion rights all the way up to birth, indemnifies anyone who “accidentally” delivers a live baby and then lets it die on the table — and lets non-doctors perform abortions.
Yes, the Catholic Church opposes abortion across the board. But that doesn’t mean it can’t raise issues that trouble even militant atheists.
Oddly, Cuomo told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that he has his “own Catholic beliefs.” For his sake, we hope those include faith in the sacrament of Confession.
No comments:
Post a Comment