NYRA pressing forward on NYC parlor opportunity
 

NYRA to pursue OTBs in New York City
By Matt Hegarty

The New York Racing Association intends to pursue licenses to open offtrack betting parlors in New York City, according to written testimony submitted to a state senate committee by the association’s chief executive, Charles Hayward.
The testimony, which was submitted to the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee on Tuesday, includes the strongest statements yet on NYRA’s intentions to operate OTB parlors in New York’s five boroughs, a politically charged endeavor that needs approval from city and state officials.

In the testimony, Hayward contends that NYRA is best suited to operate the OTBs, and he argues against granting licenses in the city’s five boroughs to any of the five existing OTB companies in New York state, citing the dissolution last year of New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. and the bankruptcy filing this year of Suffolk OTB. “An analysis of NYCOTB, which is endemic of the other regional OTBs, demonstrates that the parlor distribution system, combined with excessive operational and legacy costs, resulted in its financial demise,” Hayward wrote.

Under a decades-old law, NYRA has the authority to operate up to eight OTBs in New York City, provided it receives approval from the city and state regulators. In his testimony, Hayward said that NYRA intends to establish OTB parlors in “selected bars and restaurants” in the city so that it can “successfully recoup much of the handle that was lost” when New York City OTB closed.

I hope they put one back in Playwrights in the West 30s. That was always a nice place to spend the Breeders Cup.

It's a good idea, as long as it's NYRA running the show.

The NJ and Colorado OTB models are nice. The places are decent restaurants and bars in addition to being OTB. Makes it feel more like Vegas which is nice. Used to work in NYC and would hit the one bar near South St. Ferry all the time. Kind of dumpy but fine for me.

This needs to happen. Put an organization that actually has a clue what it's doing in charge, go easy on the number of locations, give track prices, and you'll see OTB in NYC flourish.

The few OTB's I've been to in New York State were all absolute disasters in every way possible.

I can't imagine how they couldn't be improved upon by anyone who is not intentionally trying to screw everything up.

Playwrights Restaurant was nice. The first floor is your average tourist-friendly Irish pub, and the 2nd floor was a combination bar and OTB. Booths with screens, big screens behind the bar, decent enough pub food and an okay beer selection. I really miss it.

But, yes, the average NYC OTBs were armpits and that was on their good days.

I think this is great for NYRA if it happens. I heard Catskill OTB is making a play for easy bet locations in the city also. There is a long way to go.

Less face it, all they need is a place where the non-computer people (NYRA account holders) can converge, place bets and watch the races. In Jersey the establishments are very nice, but truthfully I would rather just stay in my own house and play from there.
For the most part, they aren't building these parlors for the people with the NYRA accounts, they are building them for the so called armpit people who don't play anymore because they have no access to bet the races.

Oh, absolutely the serious bettor is going to stay home and do it online, but I think Playwrights made for the next best thing to going to the track- actually, in some ways better, because Belmont and Aqueduct's food options stink. (Who am I kidding? What options?) Sporting events are supposed to be entertainment, and you just didn't get any entertainment at a regular NYC OTB- they were dirty, dark, and you could have bottled the odor of desperation. Playwrights was a nice way to spend an afternoon, and the big racing days were always fun there.

Been to Playwrights upstairs much better than an OTB but I would think clearly not enough room on a big day.

I remember on Invasor's BC day everyone sort of spilled downstairs, too, but as long as everyone was drinking and eating, the management didn't care. Other years it's been crowded, but not awful. Derby Day I remember I went there to place my bets and then to the bar a little further down the street to watch the race, because Playwrights was wall-to-wall people. I'd still take it over the OTB on 72nd Street. Blech.

Yankee Clipper on John St.
Austin's in Kew Gardens

The restaurant/bar OTBs that I have been in, Il Fornetto and Hunter's in Brooklyn and Irish Circle in Queens, were all fine. Irish Circle was more of a drink beer and $2 bet crowd, but they had fun with it, so nothing wrong with that. The other two places seemed to have a much more serious and very regular crowd. Many of the parlors were nasty, but not all. Some were actually ok and had a neighborhood feel were locals were getting together to watch the races. Been in almost every one that was in Brooklyn, and a couple in Manhattan (those not so good...) so think I can make a fair call on them. There was a big one in Canarsie that I thought might be really bad that turned out to be the cleanest and friendliest of them all and another in Gravesend that one would think very neighborhood-ish, that was a complete dump, so there was little rhyme or reason to the good ones and bad ones.

I would like to see it go elsewhere, the (who I believe to be, but certainly acts like the) owner is an A-hole who could care less about racing. I have seen her tell people that it is not an OTB and if they are not eating or drinking they have to leave.

That's too bad. I never saw anything like that, but restaurant managers (and owners) will vary day-to-day in personality. I swear, there's something about the food industry that drives some people crazy. Probably having to deal with customers.

That was my question. How do owners handle the bettors who don't drink or eat, but just bum cigarettes from the customers outside the door?
There's a bar/OTB opening nearby in upstate NY and I'll be curious to see the business once they open after cleaning up after the flood.

When you went to the restaurants you were expected to buy something. Didn't have to be a lot, but just sitting there was frowned on and can't say I ever saw anyone hanging out outside like at the regular parlors. That's what helped make such places nice though. No riff-raff. And if anyone became disruptive at all, they were asked to leave