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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Hold Your Tickets

- I was figuring that I should burn up the big 16 bucks I have left in my OTB account tonight. I'd even seen where OTB was encouraging customers to cash their tickets by today. What does that mean, that the Mayor would have those debts and obligations go unhonored?

But the NY Daily News is now reporting that the state and city have reached a last minute deal to keep the opeartion going, with the state indeed taking it over.

The city will receive some compensation on an annual basis but far less than it was seeking.

Under the formula, the city will receive $4.25 million of the $19 million it was seeking. [NYDN]
The $19 million is the approximate amount of the surcharge on winnings that the city was not figuring in its calculations when it claimed that OTB was cash negative. While the city will be relieved of running the operation, seems to me that it could be a big loser on the bottom line versus living with the small overall shotfall projected for June, and working with NYRA and the state to reduce wasteful operations and look at ways to consolidate.

More on this as details emerge and the report is confirmed. Just wanted to mention that an extremely well-informed reader wrote to point out that State Senator John Sabini needs only the approval of Senator Bruno, and not that of Sheldon Silver, to become the new chairman of the State Racing and Wagering Board.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

MaxCherry

gee wiz I'll talk to the boys and ask them to pass around the cup for the 16.00 you might lose

El Angelo said...

I want to see the details on this deal, obviously, but I can't see how this is anything but good for the industry and New York racing in general. The closer the state gets to consolidating NYRA and NYCOTB, the better. Taking the City out of the equation cannot hurt.