Apparently that is the question according to this morning’s
local newspaper (Yes, my wife and I do still read the local newspaper – print version
– each morning preferring to get our lies and egregious entertainment flashes
from an old school medium rather than an electronic one. NYS Comptroller,
Thomas Napoli, who has been featured in this blog before (See Tom Napoli, June 2014) is quoted
in the article saying "The viability of OTBs is in financial jeopardy.
Statutory payment requirements, a downturn in racing interest and major fee
increases have each contributed to this plight.”
Can I say, “And not a moment too soon!”
Have you ever been in an Off Track Betting parlor, a phrase used very
loosely to identify these spaces where gentleman, mostly gentleman, another
loosely used term, gather to place bets at racetracks too far away for them to
go to? If you haven’t you aren’t missing much.
Since 1970, that’s 45 years ago, New York State has licensed
various regional corporations to run off-track betting establishments so that
those not lucky enough to live a short distance from a racetrack could plunk
down a few bucks and become a millionaire. OTBs never seemed like a great idea
to me but I was fortunate enough to be born and raised in Yonkers where, with a
few glitches here and there, a harness racing track was always only a bus ride away. Once
old enough to drive a car, Roosevelt Field on Long Island (since turned into a
shopping mall of sorts), and Aqueduct Race Track in Queens were also easy
commutes. OTBs seemed unnecessary and a
waste of space. Why lose your money at some track far, far away when it could
easily be lost close to home.
Race tracks are generally far from the scenic atmosphere of
Churchill Downs which everyone gets to visit once a year through the magic of
television. Some are much nicer than others but all of them have their “pits,”
let’s call them, where the $2 bettors congregate, yell, spit, curse, smoke (they
used to anyway!), throw their butts and losing tickets all over the floor and
variously lament on how close they came to winning or what a loser or cheater their jockey was. These denizens
of the paddock do not usually deign to dress for their race track outings. They
come in T-shirts, dirty jeans, raggedy jackets or their work clothes with “Henry”
or some other mundane name stitched onto the outside of their shirt pocket if
they are there on their lunch break. Some stay for all the races; some run
in and run out betting on a “tip” from someone who knows all about it. Women
are in the minority but if they are there they often look more disheveled than
the men.
Image this scenario and multiply it downward by a factor of
five and that’s what your typical OTB looks like. Usually painted a drab
institutional minty green but wearing the scuffs and grime of decades, the
walls are not inviting. The floors aren’t either, made up of dirty chipped linoleum
tiles that have not been cleaned or waxed in ages. The floors eventually get
swept but for the most part the discarded betting slips will remain there for
most of the day. Tellers, those who interpret the complicated wagers that might
spell success for the bettors, are behind barred or thick plexi-glass windows
and say little to the patrons. Do something wrong – propose a bet that is
unintelligible – and you will get a stair, a frown, and maybe even a growl. All
are good signs that your bet will go unplaced as your horse comes to the rail.
In the midst this woefully pathetic environment there are
opportunists lurking midway down the long lines of bettors that usually form
minutes before a given post time. They wait and wait to the last seconds before
the race goes off and then adeptly shoulder their way in front of an
unsuspecting newcomer in order to squeeze their bet in at the wire. More than
once have I witnessed this scenario result in pushes, shoves and no one on that
line getting a bet in for that race.
It’s not surprising that OTBs will soon be a thing of the
past. There are many other alternatives to them including multiple ways of
placing bets on horse races from the comfort of your own home. Sorry to say
that few of us in NY will miss them – mostly we stopped going a long time ago.
