UPDATE: State meets obligation to NYRA; Legislature OK's advance

[pointman]

Originally Posted by Princess Doreen

Jerry Bossert/NY Daily News article - Sunday, May 23

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/mo...last_race.html


With horse racing in NY in financial trouble, News examines how it got there, and how to fix it

Great link and article. Bossert points out a huge flaw with the current business model which only the State can change, NYRA has the expense of putting on the product, but has to compete with OTB. It cannot even show a live signal to its own customers as their competitor statutorily has the right to that.

If NY really wants to fix racing, OTB's have to be broken up and given to the tracks so that they are not competing against themselves. Under this model NYRA could be competitive even without a casino, a casino would just be the icing on the cake.

Freddy, as much as you doubt the casino, you need to look no further than Yonkers to see how that alone would turn NYRA into a profitable entity from which NY State can poach and NYRA could sustain itself.

The solution is simple. Break up the OTB's and give them to the tracks. Allow NYRA to take the same rate on a betting dollar whether it is bet on or off track in NY and give NYRA the ability to show its own signal live off track. At the same time allow NYRA to cut the takeout on all bets since the middleman no longer needs to siphon money out of the bettors that does not needs to be siphoned. Bigger purses, bigger fields, less takeout will addup to a huge success for NY racing. Implement a qualified casino operator and NY has the best racing in the country and NYRA sustains itself and fills the State coffers.

Why won't this get done anytime soon? Because the corrupt politicians won't give up their patronage machine. The media needs to force the legislature to do this by telling the truth and mounting public opinion. Anyone who believes that the State has not put NYRA in this position truly doesn't understand what it is happening here.