Future gloomy for New York City's Off-Track Betting

Future gloomy for New York City's Off-Track Betting According to N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city will go through with the plans of shutting down the off-track betting (OTB) operations on Monday. The OTB is out of business on Monday, June 16th, resulting in a layoff of 1,200 to 1,500 employees, despite the attempts to save the operation. Despite taking in close to $1 billion in wagers annually and a $125 million operating profit, the OTB has failed to cover its bills. According to the mayor, the operating costs of the city’s betting operation is costing the budget $14 million annually; "I don’t want to be a pessimist but at the moment our plans are that Sunday will be the last day that OTB is open in New York City," Bloomberg was quoted yesterday. Employees of the off-track betting have already received their letters of termination due to going out of business and the future of the OTB is looking quite grim. Gov. David A. Paterson said he would consider a state takeover to prevent the shuttering of New York City's Off-Track Betting operation after this weekend, but the chances of an agreement before Monday are close to none.

Published on 06/12/2008