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NY Senate Rejects NYC OTB Rescue; Doors To Shut

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP/1010 WINS) -- The state Senate on Tuesday rejected a plan to rescue the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. from closure and its 1,000 employees from job loss, sounding what one lawmaker called a "death knell" to the state's racing industry.

"This is a dominoes game and once you allow one domino to fall, they all fall," said Senate racing committee Chairman Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn. "I think this was an expensive game of chicken with the people involved in the racing industry."

After a series of deadlines and weeks of negotiations, the Senate failed to overcome partisan differences before the latest deadline to save the troubled gambling operation. The plan supported by OTB's unions would have cut the workforce by nearly half, reduced some wage differentials for Sunday work and modernized the operation through automation and fewer traditional betting parlors.

Al Jones of 1010 WINS was at an OTB parlor on West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side Tuesday and spoke some placing bets and others worried about their job situation.

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1010 WINS Reporter Al Jones talks with OTB workers.

"I've never seen a bookie lose money in my life," one man told Jones, "it's too many chiefs, you gotta pay off too many people...how can a bookie lose money?"

"We gotta go through this...this is bad.  This is a bad situation right now," one OTB worker said.

The gambling operation is now set to close Tuesday night.

Although New York City OTB collects nearly $1 billion a year in bets, competition from casinos and other gambling organizations, mismanagement and its required payouts to governments and the racing industry has kept it on the brink of bankruptcy for years.

Republicans in the Senate minority who were excluded from negotiations wanted similar help for the five other regional OTBs on Long Island and upstate, areas their members represent.

Sen. Andrew Lanza, R-Staten Island, said Democrats put the issue to a floor vote prematurely to try to blame Republicans, who are due to take over as the Senate's majority in January.

"This really would be the death knell of racing in New York state," said Sen. Jeffrey Klein, a Democratic from the Bronx and Westchester, just before the floor vote.

"Merry Christmas, everybody," said an angry Sen. George Onorato, D-Queens.

The bill mustered 29 of 50 votes. Thirty-two were needed for passage, and 12 senators were excused or absent or the seats were vacant.

(TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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