NYC OTB in Financial Crisis

[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.

[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.

[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.