OTB to close 3 parlors, not 6, downsize 1

Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp. officials, who filed for federal bankruptcy last week, said Monday they are looking to close just three other branches and downsize one large betting parlor.

Deborah Pfeiffer, OTB spokeswoman, said the agency is doing a cost-benefit analysis now and expects a decision in the next month, but declined to identify which three sites would close. Pfeiffer, however, said the branches are likely to be phased out, one by one.

The new estimate is a revision of OTB officials' earlier forecast that the agency planned to shut six of 12 branches. One betting parlor, the Huntington branch, already had been scheduled to close by the end of March, before the agency's fiscal woes became critical. This will leave OTB with eight parlors.

OTB officials also declined to say which branch might be downsized, but the candidates include the Racing Forum in Hauppauge, the Sunrise branch in Bay Shore and the Airport branch in Bohemia near Long Island-MacArthur Airport.

Suffolk OTB filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy reorganization in federal court in Central Islip late Friday. Managers expect the reorganization to take six to eight months.