The State Assembly is reportedly considering last-ditch assistance to salvage the city’s Off Track Betting Corporation (OTB), which has issued termination notices to its 1,350 employees and will shut down on Sunday, April 11.
“We have to do something before the middle of next week, otherwise OTB goes
out of business totally,” Assemblymember Gary Pretlow, head of the Racing and Wagering Committee, reportedly said.
Albany lawmakers have reportedly developed a plan to trim OTB’s mandated payouts to the racing industry by 10 percent – as well as cutting both OTB labor and management – in order to forestall the shutdown.
In the meantime, the cash-strapped New York Racing Association (NYRA) has filed a notice of appeal of a federal judge’s decision to allow OTB’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.
NYRA, which is owed roughly $15 million by the city OTB, has been in dire financial straits since emerging from its own bankruptcy filing in October 2008. Since that time, it has been awaiting a promised $30 million influx from the up front payment to be made by the operator of a Racino at Aqueduct.
Since that time, two bidding processes for the contract have failed to produce a down payment, now pegged at $300 million. NYRA has warned that it will be broke by June 1 and would have to cancel racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga thoroughbred race tracks without its share of the payment – and the revenue from gaming at the South Ozone Park track.
The other six OTBs in the state are in better financial condition and continue to make their payments to NYRA, according to figures.
Horse racing and the equine industry generate billions in revenue and thousands of jobs, both in the city and upstate. Horses and farms have been relocating to greener pastures in other states, in large part because of New York’s failure to keep pace, experts say.
OTB Chairman Meyer “Sandy” Frucher recently predicted a solution on a radio program, saying “In my judgment, people will sit down in good faith to come up with solutions to these problems. Why? Because it’s all about jobs.”
