For the first time in 40 years, New York City residents will have no local venues to legally place their bets for the Kentucky Derby. But there’s a bill in the State Assembly aimed at re-opening at least 10 Off-Track Betting parlors by giving the Catskills OTB the authority to run them.
"They’re the ones that said we want to see more activity in New York City and we’re willing to take under our umbrella -- 10 parlors right now -- which would grow in the future as the need be," said State Assemblyman Gary Pretlow.
Working with the union District Council 37 the plan would restore at least 80 jobs. But, the support may not be there in the legislature, especially in the State Senate.
"Just to appoint somebody to take over New York City OTB, not a good idea. We saw what happened with the aqueduct mess by appointments," said State Senator John Bonacic.
Pretlow, the Assembly bill's sponsor, says this is a different situation where a party has stepped forward with a solid plan. That could help bring back millions of dollars in betting now flowing out of the state or into illegal hands.
"My concern is getting the people who have lost their jobs back to work and to make more money for the State of New York," Pretlow said.
Now there’s talk once again mainly from Nassau, Suffolk and Capital OTBs of combining resources by sharing services like a single phone betting system, an Internet wagering site and marketing.
Operating the city's OTB parlors, they say, is not something Catskill OTB should do on its own.
"There’s been enough signals to the existing OTBs that they know that we are looking for efficiencies. They know New York City went down; Suffolk is in trouble, went bankrupt. So they see the writing on the wall," Bonacic said.
The other OTBs have yet to submit a plan to combine services that would allow them to run the city's parlors. The legislature is discussing ways to consolidate management of the state’s OTBs, but it would be an extremely heavy lift. Pretlow says, for now, the Catskill plan will do.
The Catskills-New York City OTB deal would have city parlors up and running by the start of the Saratoga racing season in July.
"They’re the ones that said we want to see more activity in New York City and we’re willing to take under our umbrella -- 10 parlors right now -- which would grow in the future as the need be," said State Assemblyman Gary Pretlow.
Working with the union District Council 37 the plan would restore at least 80 jobs. But, the support may not be there in the legislature, especially in the State Senate.
"Just to appoint somebody to take over New York City OTB, not a good idea. We saw what happened with the aqueduct mess by appointments," said State Senator John Bonacic.
Pretlow, the Assembly bill's sponsor, says this is a different situation where a party has stepped forward with a solid plan. That could help bring back millions of dollars in betting now flowing out of the state or into illegal hands.
"My concern is getting the people who have lost their jobs back to work and to make more money for the State of New York," Pretlow said.
Now there’s talk once again mainly from Nassau, Suffolk and Capital OTBs of combining resources by sharing services like a single phone betting system, an Internet wagering site and marketing.
Operating the city's OTB parlors, they say, is not something Catskill OTB should do on its own.
"There’s been enough signals to the existing OTBs that they know that we are looking for efficiencies. They know New York City went down; Suffolk is in trouble, went bankrupt. So they see the writing on the wall," Bonacic said.
The other OTBs have yet to submit a plan to combine services that would allow them to run the city's parlors. The legislature is discussing ways to consolidate management of the state’s OTBs, but it would be an extremely heavy lift. Pretlow says, for now, the Catskill plan will do.
