At the Times today, Russ Buettner looks at the latest OTB wretched excess...spending millions on consultants and research ... Why?
Much of the [the consultants'] effort involved wrestling with unpleasant perceptions of OTB parlors and clientele.
As the Times notes, "For now, the consultants’ expensive work product appears to have no more value than a torn race ticket on a dirty linoleum floor." The new OTB boss doesn't care for the work that was done by his predecessor.
Wonder how much longer before the whole OTB system is shuttered... they're what, $200 million in the hole now? Go to one while you can.
This line from the Times a few years back sums it up best about the future of the OTB: It is an ever-narrowing slice of New York that still belongs to the hustler and the old-timer. Soon it may be extinct...
Like everything else that helps give the city some character.
[Photo at the Delancey OTB by EV Grieve]
7 comments:
why would the new OTB boss care for the work that was done by his predecessor. he can't get any money for it.
think of the contractors pay-backs, the continuation of his job to complete the new study, and whatever additional penny s/he can shove into the new study..
this is what's wrong everywhere - the new boss buys new furniture and re-decorates his/her office. and the elected officials and their staff are the worst abusers. think big cars, large airplanes.
of course! next thing you know, the otb's would be like those cemusa glass box stands.
I think they should play up that most OTBs have bottle service (the ones you have stashed in your pockets...)
I cannot for the life of me understand why you all feel that an OTB, which amounts to state sponsored swindling, is somehow reminiscent of "old" New York. If you want character, go to the racetrack itself, which far predates OTB's existence. I'm sure you may also long for the good ole days of lineups of guys getting humjobs on 28th Street because you all were growing up in Schenechtady at the time, but things change. Back then, everyone was complaining that the city was shit and now everyone complains that the city isn't shit.
Good point on hitting the racetrack, anon. I try to get to Belmont or Aqueduct as much as I can during the season...and do prefer it to an afternoon at the OTB on Delancey. But I'l take what I can get.
I am not interested in state financing for the OTB.
Though, I am happy for Vishal Rawal, 26, of Edison, N.J. and his $384,000 payout as a consultant. I am sure he earned it.
Has anyone really spent any time near the OTB on Delancey? I walked past that place almost daily for about 5 years. I really wish there were "hustlers and old-timers", 'cause that'd be quaint. Instead it's violent jerks that require frequent police presence to break up the fighting. It's a gauntlet of harassment for a lot of women that walk by there. I was grabbed by idiots so often I lost count. It's a place for people who don't live in the neighborhood to gather around and be drunk, get into fights and throw trash everywhere. If that's the type of character people want then I don't really understand why there's so much frat boy bar hate. It's the same stuff with a different economic class.
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