For some reason that Steve may know(I think we discussed this once and he had the inside on it) the county that Syracuse resides in never approved OTB's from the very inception of them. May have been political.
They still do not have them to this day. Funny thing is that so very many people from Cuse love the ponies. They have the option of driving to the recently reopened Vernon Downs harness track and slots to play horses, but most go to an OTB that is about one mile over the border into the next county. I believe it is Capital OTB's biggest handle parlor. Its in a place called Bridgeport. My friend told me about it and I was driving home from western NY one day, I attempted to find it and did so. I was stunned. In the middle of nowhere in this cow town, there is a huge OTB that was absolutely stuffed with people playing horses. It was like Field of Dreams, you are in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden this huge OTB with a million cars in the parking lot appears.