NYC OTB in Financial Crisis

[Bobby Fischer]

they are making big money

its so obvious

places like gulfstream are obvious when they raise expenses in accord with the profits, but nyc otb is uber obvious. (thank you nyc otb for finally allowing me context for the word "uber")

these otbs are rough places lol , but no better spot to cheer on a $2 show bet as if you just hit powerball!

also: don't lump the rastas in with the haitians who have dred locks ...

[pmacdaddy]

I say give the City a $10M+ annual garauntee (call it whatever you like) and let the track operator run the sites.

Can you imagine how much they would value that Billion dollar handle? How much they could grow it integrating their Internet platform with offsite locations.

I'm sure the City would pass, even though they are "losing".

[Kasept]

Paul Moran gets it right in his "How to fix it" riff on the NYC-OTB wolf-crying... (I'm confident Paul will not mind it being copied here..)


FIXING OTB IN NYC
By Paul Moran (http://www.paulmoranattheraces.blogspot.com)

Six off-track betting corporations conduct business in the state of New York, five profitably. The other, which happens to be the nation’s largest legal purveyor of pari-mutuel wagering, is insolvent.

Is something wrong with this picture?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, astute businessman that he is, must be aware of the reasons for the difficulties that weigh upon New York City OTB and he also must be aware that they are not beyond repair. Bloomberg is inclined to rail against the things to which he objects – smoking, junk food and, alas, gambling and it is more likely that his personal opposition to gambling more than any other factor is behind the shutdown threat he issued last week.

Perhaps the sight of a clutch of people standing outside an OTB parlor, smoking cigarettes and eating fast-food burgers -- actually exercising the right of personal choice -- moved Bloomberg to threaten closure of the city’s staggering OTB enterprise, which would end a three-decade reign on mismanagement that would be studied for decades to come in the nation’s business schools as an example of the chaos resultant from a slushpot of political patronage that with fermentation and age, inevitably begins feeding on itself.

NYCOTB has endured the leadership of Allie Sherman, a retired and befuddled football coach without a minute of background in the gaming business but strong political connections; Hazel Dukes, who combined inept management with unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility, and is led currently by Ray Casey, an appointee of former mayor now presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, his cousin.

Bloomberg’s threats notwithstanding, OTB will not soon be closed in New York City. It is part of the culture. Its proprietorship should be joined with the racing franchise but that is sensible beyond hope. It could be sold into the private sector, but the immediate transition would be both effective and embarrassing to three decades of politicians who have used it as a jobs program and real estate boondoggle. Yet, it would take all of an afternoon to right this ship.

Here’s how.

Close every OTB parlor in the five boroughs leaving only restaurant-based facilities and teletheaters.

Fire everyone.

Expand the network of restaurant/bar-based facilities throughout the city and open more teletheaters, following the example of those in Nassau and Suffolk counties as well as Albany and Niagara Falls. They work.

Install a CEO with background in gaming and hospitality regardless of political affiliation. Permit that person to staff his organization with professionals, particularly in the area of simulcasting.

Do not renew simulcasting contracts with tracks that are of no interest within the New York marketplace and replace those with international signals from tracks in Europe and Asia.

Implement Internet wagering.

Lobby for changes in the statutory structure under which OTB operates. Apparently, this is the only state in the nation in which it is possible to be taxed on more than 100 percent of net profit, which is simply wrong.

All this before happy hour.

[Bobby Fischer]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Paul Moran gets it right in his "How to fix it" riff on the NYC-OTB wolf-crying... (I'm confident Paul will not mind it being copied here..)


FIXING OTB IN NYC
By Paul Moran (http://www.paulmoranattheraces.blogspot.com)
....

Expand the network of restaurant/bar-based facilities throughout the city and open more teletheaters, following the example of those in Nassau and Suffolk counties as well as Albany and Niagara Falls. They work.

I think he is on to something here. There is a lot of potential in the restaurant/bar market.

I don't know that expanding to Asia / Europe in place of the non-profitable tracks is an urgent issue. Sure any horse player likes top class racing regardless of venue, but sometimes less is more when a product is in transition.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fischer

I think he is on to something here. There is a lot of potential in the restaurant/bar market.

I don't know that expanding to Asia / Europe in place of the non-profitable tracks is an urgent issue. Sure any horse player likes top class racing regardless of venue, but sometimes less is more when a product is in transition.

B/F,

Makes sense utilizing the Asian/Euro/Latin American simus to draw the specific ethnic trade that has interest there. (Much like the Latin and European soccer cafes you find in NY, Montreal, Chicago, etc.). As an example, in Montreal at the Hippo Clubs, they began operating midnight-8am playing Hong Kong, Australia and Japan, and drew huge Asian crowds... But as Paul Moran suggests, the facilities need to be sumptuous.. or at least comfortable.

[Bobby Fischer]

Originally Posted by Kasept

B/F,

Makes sense utilizing the Asian/Euro/Latin American simus to draw the specific ethnic trade that has interest there. (Much like the Latin and European soccer cafes you find in NY, Montreal, Chicago, etc.). As an example, in Montreal at the Hippo Clubs, they began operating midnight-8am playing Hong Kong, Australia and Japan, and drew huge Asian crowds... But as Paul Moran suggests, the facilities need to be sumptuous.. or at least comfortable.

Good points. If done right they could really draw in some ethnic interest.

[sumitas]

Bloomberg is no Ronald Reagan. He would fix the OTB in that "long afternoon" Paul Moran refers to. Fire them all, privatize the operation.

[Linny]

Clearly someone in the NYC Mayor's (and at the NYT) office needs a bit of a lesson in the economic structure of the racing environment. In simplest retail terms, the tracks produce a product (racing) and the OTB's and assorted simulcasts distribute and sell the product at the retail level. The distributors PAY for the right to retail the product. A man as successful as Bloomberg simply cannot be so idiotic as to not see this.