Governor Cuomo said today that he was drawing up plans to turn the state's system of offtrack betting over to the racing industry or some other private organization.
Mr. Cuomo's comments were promptly rejected by Mayor Koch and by the union that represents most employees of New York City's Offtrack Betting Corporation.
There is virtually unanimous agreement that the OTB, which takes bets on horse racing, is in financial trouble and is producing less revenue for local governments than hoped for when it was created in 1970. New York City's revenues from offtrack betting have been falling in recent years and dropped to $45 million in the last fiscal year.
However, there is wide disagreement here over what to do. While Mr. Cuomo said he did not yet have a detailed proposal, his remarks for the first time indicated what he called ''the direction, generally'' that he would like to see followed. The changes would require legislative approval.
Speaking at a news conference, the Governor said the biggest obstacle to change was the employees of the state's six Offtrack Betting Corporations, which are operated by local governments in New York City, Nassau County, Suffolk County, Albany, Schenectady and the Buffalo region. 'More Intelligent Structure'
''You start talking about changing the OTB, and people all over the state start jumping up and down,'' Mr. Cuomo said. ''They have patronage positions at stake. We should find a way to make the OTB operation more efficient, somehow reorganize OTB so it has a more intelligent structure, have it managed either by N.Y.R.A. or the private sector.''
The New York Racing Association, which operates tracks in the state, has proposed taking over OTB. In addition, Bernard Rome, former president of New York City OTB, said recently that he could guarantee a 10 percent rise in government revenues if the six units were consolidated under a private corporation that he would establish.
William B. Eimicke, the aide representing Mr. Cuomo on the issue, said last night that any changes would have to guarantee the jobs of current workers and current levels of local revenue.
Asked about the Governor's remarks, Mr. Koch said, ''It doesn't make any sense.'' The Mayor said that OTB was more efficient than the state lottery, and that bringing in the private sector would just create ''an additional partner who would take out his profit.'' 'A Hard Fight' Promised
The Mayor also rejected Mr. Cuomo's description of OTB jobs as patronage. ''OTB here in the city of New York is Civil Service,'' he said.
Norman Adler, political director of District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents workers at New York City O.T.B., said his union would wage ''a hard fight'' against Mr. Cuomo's plans.
Michael Azzara, special assistant to the president of the New York City OTB, said the betting corporation had a series of legislative proposals that it believed would reverse the decline in revenues to the city.
These include giving OTB the right to make wider use of simulcasting - the simultaneous showing on TV monitors of races being run at the track - the reduction of the surcharge on OTB winnings and the right to conduct betting on professional sports.
Mr. Cuomo has proposed letting the State Lottery Division conduct sports betting, but the Legislature has balked at this proposal.
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