by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association

Columbus, OH — Two Thoroughbred groups in New York have joined the Standardbred Owners Association of New York in supporting New York Assemblyman Gary Pretlow’s plan to restructure the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation.

The Corporation has vowed to cease operations on April 11 if its own plan to reduce payments to the racing industry cannot be enacted. The Corporation already owes millions of dollars to the racing industry it says it cannot pay.

“From its inception, OTB quickly earned a reputation for mismanagement, corruption and favoritism, a place that cared less about the bottom line than it did about providing plum jobs to the politically connected,” the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Association said in a joint statement to the press last week.

“It is an old joke, but no one is laughing any longer, OTB is the only bookie in New York that loses money. If OTB is not fixed, it will lead to the closing of Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga. It is time for the inept operation to be shuttered.”