NYC Off Track Betting Closed For Good

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 12:00 AM

Come on horse players from the NYC area let's here some stories. There are many of you out there.

**gomiamigo** · 12-08-10, 12:01 AM

Sad day indeed. Always ran out at lunch on Oaks Day to get by Kentucky Derby doubles in over at 3rd Ave in midtown. Definitely hit the Chinatown locations for dim sum and some bets on big race days.

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 12:07 AM

I feel ya, I am 38 but started betting in my late teens. Loved the action until I moved out of state a few years a go, many locals like the Jamaican guys, the Chinese mailmen, the old men betting 2 bucks to show on a 1/9, betting a DD for the 8th and 9th when it is the 2nd race and it post time, the fights that is what I will miss.

**gtkid911** · 12-08-10, 12:20 AM

Sad day indeed, now hopefully people will start to show up more at the track

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 12:26 AM

Old people and people with no cars are not going to drive to the track when there is no live racing to bet on simulcast, it was a way of life for many people SAD

**jjgold** · 12-08-10, 12:36 AM

I use to go when I was a kid and also in my younger days
Plsce were fixtures in NY City

I use to go to Pearl River OTB ad also the OTB is Port Authority

**tony_come** · 12-08-10, 12:42 AM

classical

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 12:54 AM

Memories I saw many garbage can fires set by people who lost money by getting shut out or told they could not take a verbal bet in the day LOL

**callmejrk1** · 12-08-10, 01:15 AM

not enough money why it shut down?

**floridagolfer** · 12-08-10, 05:47 AM

This is not a sad day. It gives us an opportunity to do it the right way now.

New York OTB was a disaster from Day 1 and sooner we can erase it from our memories, the better off we'll be. I don't know if the people exist to form an off-track betting system that is beneficial to bettors and the industry, but a second try at this can't be any worse than what we had.

**jjgold** · 12-08-10, 06:10 AM

Well hopefully someone will buy it and make it great

I am sure companies out there that can turn it into a profit

**gafl** · 12-08-10, 08:10 AM

Really, going into a filthy storefront to deal with tellers who could care less. Then add a surcharge on your winning bets. In the beginning it was a good idea, but NYC and the racetracks just used OTB as a cash cow. Remember the first one down by City Hall in a converted bank. Clean and catered to the horse player. The Manhattan outlets are the only ones losing money, the other boroughs all make money. Biggest profit in Flushing. Doubt they will close for good. See it taken over by NYRA with 2 or 3 larger OTB's in Manhattan.

**dugbug15** · 12-08-10, 08:46 AM

i went to an otb in new rochelle many years ago.it was a fiasco to say the least.the tellers were snappy and nasty,75% of the patrons were jamaicans,or,haitians,screwing up their bets,bogging down the lines,and, wearing their wool choo-choo train hats in 90 degree weather.top it all off,the manager comes out of his hole around 7:45pm,and,starts sceaming at us guys,like a drill sargeant or a prison warden,announcing otb closing in 15 munutes.tha's why my otb trip to new rochelle was many years ago.good riddance!

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 08:53 AM

they did close for good as of midnight last night, I am sure something will happen in the coming weeks but for now it is gone. Good Bye it was nice knowing you Forest Hills, Sheepshead Bay

**bruceBRUCEbruce** · 12-08-10, 08:57 AM

Originally posted by jjgold

I am sure companies out there that can turn it into a profit

all you need is an association that isn't corrupt from the top down...

**wtf** · 12-08-10, 09:14 AM

good otb story

apparently the tellers there are fukin sleaze dogs, they would occasionally cancel out tickets of longshots and keep the dough

one day some fuker with a ten dollar exacta box hits, pays over 2500 bucks, ticket was canceled by the teller

teller is a woman she apparently finds out the guys name and calls him begging him to pay him so she wont get canned off
the OTB gravy train

**katstale** · 12-08-10, 09:22 AM

I am sure this was only organized gambling enterprise in the world that LOST MONEY. USA government in a microcosm.

**jjgold** · 12-08-10, 09:41 AM

Hopefully PA will take it over

**cadillac pete** · 12-08-10, 10:34 AM

Did they pay track odds? Or was the OTB payout less?

**gafl** · 12-08-10, 10:42 AM

They started out paying track odds but then greed took over and they added a surcharge. I think the teletheaters paid track odds with an admission charge.

**MadTiger** · 12-08-10, 11:11 AM

Originally posted by callmejrk1

not enough money why it shut down?

Mismanagement, possible corruption. EDIT: Definitely corrupt. We are talking about NY City, damn it. Don't be nice.

I can't understand how any legal gambling business can go under. I just don't comprehend how someone could mess that up. (Or bankrupt a sub shop located next to a university campus with 20K students, but some fool fukked that up in my city, so I guess anything can happen!)

**Brock Landers** · 12-08-10, 11:38 AM

horse racing is deader than disco

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 11:39 AM

Pete they took 10% off track odds

**csm506** · 12-08-10, 11:42 AM

I worked for NYC OTB when I was in College in 1991,1992 and 1993 and the stories I can share with you boys. Fires, Stealing, Managers betting a tellers box, guns, canceled tickets etc. it was fun though.

**jjgold** · 12-08-10, 01:23 PM

Corruption ruined it, like a few guys said here no way a gambling operation like this can go bankrupt.

**CarpeDime** · 12-08-10, 01:29 PM

Originally posted by csm506

I feel ya, I am 38 but started betting in my late teens. Loved the action until I moved out of state a few years a go, many locals like the Jamaican guys, the Chinese mailmen, the old men betting 2 bucks to show on a 1/9, betting a DD for the 8th and 9th when it is the 2nd race and it post time, the fights that is what I will miss.

classic

wow can't believe it if this is true

OTB was a fukin NYC INSTITUTION in the 70s 80s and 90s

**jjgold** · 12-08-10, 03:18 PM

My favorite OTB was the one in Port Authority and years ago you could only listen to calls , they had no tv feeds

I will never forget those days with my Father and using letters instead of numbers to bet

OTB's for years used letters instead of numbers

1-a
2-b
3-c

It was crazy

$2 Exacta e-g, a-i...etc so fukkin confusing

**CarpeDime** · 12-08-10, 03:40 PM

wish i had spent more fukin time in the OTBs, never enough time to do all the sh*t you want to do

OTB probably one of the coolest, most fukin AWESOME places EVER to hang out in NYC, FUK cannot believe its over

just hitting me now, remembering how great hanging out at OTB was

**gafl** · 12-08-10, 03:54 PM

Forgot all about that letter thing they had going.

**ByeShea** · 12-08-10, 04:12 PM

Bumbaclot bumbaclot bumbaclot mon.

YEARS and DOLLARS spent getting OTB prices on W. 72nd with fuckhead shorty mafia guy and his bald doofy sidekick never shutting the **** up. Win a few races and go get ****** up at State Cafe a block west (and see who else won, great burgers there). I understand this location closed some time ago.

Crushing on hot Rosemary in the Winners Circle on 37th St. (not bad food - awful with Jamaicans, the no-cover downstairs OTB, though one of the most degenerate crowds you'll ever see)

Hanging with the chinks at the Yankee Clipper on John St. ("YET YEE" = Chinese for "ONE TWO"), will miss that place, I guess. Only one I'll hit, didn't know the whole op was closing until I saw this thread.

Was basically down to maybe three trips, if that, a year instead of a visit or three a week back in the day.

Despite having much higher life expenditures today in my life than I did then (all I had to cover then was rent and food, though I still sometimes went hungry and avoided landlords) I am much richer today.

RIP and **** you OTB. If someone doesn't write a book about all the shenanigans, I will. Can only imagine what you saw working there, csm506.

**ByeShea** · 12-08-10, 04:18 PM

Originally posted by CarpeDime

wish i had spent more fukin time in the OTBs,

Oh, you're probably glad you didn't.

OTB's shabby decor fooled a lot of people - it was actually one of the most expensive lounges in town.

**jjgold** · 12-08-10, 05:55 PM

good stuff men

OTB definitely is and was an icon in NY City

**cecil127** · 12-08-10, 09:02 PM

i doubt the same operation is run in western ny. but if it is: the otb in central square and oswego for that matter dont sell programs. they have ONE and stick individual pages in between hard plastic and hang them in the center of the chit hole from what id describe as a "vertical rolodex". the scene there had me 2nd guessing my form of entertainment.....
refreshemnts? soda machine in the corner. ill be spending the extra $ and traveling the additional 25 miles and hit Vernon Downs.

**brxbmbers42** · 12-08-10, 09:04 PM

Originally posted by wtf

good otb story

apparently the tellers there are fukin sleaze dogs, they would occasionally cancel out tickets of longshots and keep the dough

one day some fuker with a ten dollar exacta box hits, pays over 2500 bucks, ticket was canceled by the teller

teller is a woman she apparently finds out the guys name and calls him begging him to pay him so she wont get canned off
the OTB gravy train

whatdya mean the ticket was cancelled. i dont get it