Revenue-Sharing Split Could Close City OTB Parlors

This might be a good time to place a wager on the future of the city's Off-Track Betting Corp.

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg threatened to close down the city's OTB parlors if Albany lawmakers don't change the revenue-sharing formula, which favors the state.

"We have a legal obligation to make the payments. It is a function of the percentage of revenue. If we close it down there won't be any revenue and then we can stay compliant with the law," Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. "We will send them their percentage of zero."

For the past four years the city has been lobbying the state to revamp the revenue-sharing system in a way that would more evenly divvy up the money OTB throws off. So far, lawmakers in Albany have not acted.

Now, OTB, which takes in about $1 billion in wagers annually and generates about $250 million in gross revenue, says that unless the formula is changed it will go belly-up by June.

Mr. Bloomberg's remarks seemed designed to increase pressure on state leaders, but he noted that "the problem" with shuttering OTB is that there are a lot of "hardworking city employees who staff them." He said he felt a sense of obligation to them.

However, he said, the state is using the operation as a "cash cow" and is being subsidized by the city.

"Plain and simple, we've got to write a check to them bigger than this generates," he said.