New York City OTB is broke

[BigAltheShoeman]

By Matt Hegarty
Daily Racing Form

New York City OTB is broke

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., the state-owned agency that has a monopoly on taking offtrack parimutuel bets from residents of New York's five boroughs, has an operating deficit of $38 million, an accumulated deficit of $228 million, and will be insolvent soon without legislative help or the implementation of drastic cost-cutting measures, according to an audit conducted by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released on Friday.


some details:

New York City OTB operates 68 branches in New York's five boroughs as well as an Internet and telephone betting operation. In fiscal year 2008, which ended in July 2008, the company took in $998.2 million in bets, or approximately 7 percent of the national handle, making it the single largest bet-taker in the U.S.

Though the audit takes issue with a wide array of expenses at the company -- including 87 company cars that cost $6,700 each a year to maintain, or $583,000 annually.




http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=4400808

 

[Betsmart]

They need sports betting

 

[billhill999]

This is not really new news, OTB has been broken for years.

 

[bigtendominator]

Never been to OTB, but why are they struggling financially?

Doesn't even make sense to me?

 

[onemwtheone]

Never been to OTB, but why are they struggling financially?

Doesn't even make sense to me?

Just a guess - I'd say "state-owned agency" might have something to do with it.

 

[OAKAS]

The OTB that I go to in North Sioux City, South Dakota is making some serious money. They are not very busy during the week, but Friday, Saturday and Sunday they are swamped.

ps...They have $1.00 longneck beers.:toast:<<

 

[Doug]

Never been to OTB, but why are they struggling financially?

Doesn't even make sense to me?

agree, you should be able to run this for cheap, IMO.

 

[Whoson1st]

Do they still charge a fee on winning bets at the NY OTB? It's been a long time ago, but if my memory is correct it used to be something similiar to this. Say a horse won and for a $2.00 win wager paid $3.00 at the track. The otb bet only paid $2.90 or something similiar to this (less than what the track paid).

 

[Fishhead]

Do they still charge a fee on winning bets at the NY OTB? It's been a long time ago, but if my memory is correct it used to be something similiar to this. Say a horse won and for a $2.00 win wager paid $3.00 at the track. The otb bet only paid $2.90 or something similiar to this (less than what the track paid).

Are you kidding me........wow!

Think, you can wager offshore and GET a percentage ADDED to your win.

What a rip-off...........I don't see how common folk in NY ever get ahead.

 

[Whoson1st]

Are you kidding me........wow!

Think, you can wager offshore and GET a percentage ADDED to your win.

What a rip-off...........I don't see how common folk in NY ever get ahead.

Fish
I don't know how they manage to keep any players if they're still doing that. I worked there in the 1970's for a few years and this is what that did. Then again, you've got to realize this was NEW YORK CITY--LOTS OF people have no cars only busses, subways and taxis.

It was funny all the horses at the OTB were bet by letters a b c d, etc; rather than numbers.

 

[WharfRat+]

This is not news, but I'll add a few more tidbits:

The people who run these NY state OTBs are people who have worked in government their whole lives and have zero experience in the racing/gambling biz. The most loyal are given jobs running the OTBs at the end of their career b/c it is a great place where they can max out their pensions, earning much more than they would working for the state.

Case in point: The head of NYC OTB is Rudy Guilliani's cousin.

 

[KennyB]

The NYC government is losing huge amounts of money running something that should be profitable. Gee, lets extrapolate this... The federal government wants to get involved in health care. How much money will they lose on that venture?

 

[Whoson1st]

The NYC government is losing huge amounts of money running something that should be profitable. Gee, lets extrapolate this... The federal government wants to get involved in health care. How much money will they lose on that venture?

:think2:
horse racing and healthcare? LOL
:think2:

 

[Objection]

In Illinois you pay a 2.5% surcharge at an OTB and, this is my favorite, 1.5% surcharge for a bet made live on-track.You get penalized for attending live racing.

 

[Whoson1st]

Virginia's OTB's (Only 8 or 9) as of now; pay full track odds. The one racetrack in the state charges NO on site fee.

 

[Whoson1st]

The problem in New York is they charge to breathe up there!

 

[OccamsRazor]

@)


State Owned!!

The State can't even run an OTB money making machine.

Bailout I say! Ha-ha

How fucking retarded do you have to be, NOT to make money owning a gambling establishment.

 

[TheComputerGroup]

I was at an OTB in Long Island several years ago, it was the ugliest looking room I was ever in. It was small, no food vendors. It was clogged with cig smoke & shady looking characters. They had like 2 or 3 tellers maybe 30 chairs & 8 or 10 tvs. Been to OTB's in Pa where they look like casinos. If all OTB's in NY are like the one I was in, no wonder they arent making money.

 

[DollarDay]

Gotta figure out how to get this out the govt and into public hands.

 

[kidslick]

Are you kidding me........wow!

Think, you can wager offshore and GET a percentage ADDED to your win.

What a rip-off...........I don't see how common folk in NY ever get ahead.

Otb takeout in suffolk and nassau county are 6.5%

say you bet a $2.00 exacta it win and pays $100 track odds

Otb will pay you $94.50


Now there are 2 otb's on long island that pay full track odds.
you have to pay $3 to get in


In general people are stupid.. When I try to explain this to them they look at me like I am nuts