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Originally Posted by docicu3
Is there an easy reference for the real numbers here? Does this takeout money get recycled throughout the state rather than NYC so this is misleading as hell?
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I'll get the numbers in terms of where NYC-OTB's state-destined revenue goes, but here's a reminder from Matt Hegarty as to what the real situation is:
Bloomberg and OTB officials like to cite the company's deficit at the end of the past four fiscal years. But those deficits do not include the city's share of the surcharge that OTB collects from some customers on winning bets, which actually gives the city a net gain on the OTB operation.
In 2006, the latest year for which complete financial figures are publicly available, the city OTB had a deficit of approximately $6 million. The city, however, took a dividend on the surcharge revenues of $17.4 million in the same year. So the city had a net gain of more than $11 million from OTB operations in the 2006 fiscal year.
Officials in the Bloomberg administration and city OTB confirmed that the surcharge revenue is taken as an expense on the company's financial statements, as did officials at the New York State Racing and Wagering Board.
The officials, who spoke on a condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the financial statements publicly, maintained that because the company cannot make a profit on its wagering revenues - each $1 bet loses roughly 0.7 cents - the long-term prognosis is that taxpayers eventually will have to subsidize the operation under the present statutory requirements.
And remember that the bleeding NYC OTB is experiencing is largely of their own making... Bloomberg's approach to this comes straight out of the Empire-Capital Play franchise attack handbook. Disgusting. And as has been said by Andy, Chuck, et all, the Times' approach in Editorial is a further obfuscation of the salient issues. And their initial reporting of this story was wrong-headed and inaccurate to begin with as well.