New York - Off-Track-Betting Employees’ Jobs Preserved
New York, New York
Saving Jobs - Some 300 employees of New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation — members of Local 2021 (DC 37) — lobbied lawmakers earlier this year to find a solution to the agency’s OTB funding dilemma.
Photo Credit: Clarence Elie-Rivera
More than 1,500 New York City Off-Track Betting (OTB) Corporation employees — most of them members of Local 2021 (DC 37) — won a hard-fought victory to protect the future of the state’s horse racing industry, and their own jobs and benefits.
In June, just two days before Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) planned to pull the city’s support for the betting operations, Gov. David Paterson (D) announced an agreement with Senate and Assembly leaders to take over OTB through the creation of a state public-benefit corporation.
Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC 37, said the agreement not only preserves jobs, but “also allows New Yorkers to continue benefiting from the $1.1 billion handle generated by NYC OTB.”
Approximately 40 percent of all wagering on racing in New York state is conducted at betting outlets in New York City. The quasi-governmental, public-benefit corporation contributes a net $130 million per year to the state’s economy, it actually loses about $10 million a year after mandatory distributions of earnings to the racetracks.
