So, how come this story does not come to light until 4 days later in The Daily Racing Form? Granted the DRF cares about this stuff, but how come the NY Times, the Post, and the Daily News missed this?
As you may or may not know, NYC Off Track Betting filed Bankruptcy a couple of years ago. The question then was: How can a gambling organization with a near monopoly in New York City go broke?
And,: How does the Catskill OTB get into New York City. Forget the Mayor's legitimate concerns, how did this end run take place and that the press have missed it completely?
Anyway.............................
The New York Assembly and Senate passed a bill just before
adjourning Thursday night that will allow Catskill Off-Track Betting
Corporation to operate 10 betting parlors in New York City, but it is unclear
if Gov. Andrew Cuomo will allow the bill to become law.
If approved, the bill would re-open New York’s five boroughs
to offtrack betting less than two years after the New York City Off-Track
Betting Corporation went bankrupt, taking 1,000 largely union jobs with it. The
bankruptcy resulted in the shuttering of 55 locations in which bettors could
place horse racing wagers.If approved, the bill would re-open New York’s five boroughs to offtrack betting less than two years after the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation went bankrupt, taking 1,000 largely union jobs with it. The bankruptcy resulted in the shuttering of 55 locations in which bettors could place horse racing wagers.
Rich Azzopardi, a
spokesman for Cuomo, said Friday morning that Cuomo would need to review the
bill before deciding whether to sign it.
“This wasn’t part of
a three-way agreement,” Azzopardi said, in reference to the unanimity between
the governor’s office and two legislative houses that many times precedes
passage of bills in New York.
If Cuomo decides to
sign the bill, he would risk upsetting New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
whose administration has expressed concerns about re-opening the city to
offtrack betting without major changes to state law. New York City OTB largely
failed because of an outdated business model that relied far too heavily on
bricks-and-mortar locations, and it was further burdened by enormous labor
costs.
In addition, Cuomo
has said that he wants to include OTB operations in a “major overhaul” of New
York’s gambling policy. Giving Catskill the right to re-open OTBs in New York
City in advance of the administration’s development of a formal policy for the
state would undercut the process.
I take it back, the Daily News did catch this.
ReplyDeleteStill, it seems to be pretty low profile none the less.