Letter: Suffolk casino would benefit county
A woman plays a video lottery terminal at Saratoga Casino and Raceway in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. on Jan. 14, 2015. New York has nine horse tracks that feature rows of flashing lottery terminals that look like standard video slot machines. Credit: AP / Mike Groll
I am writing in response to Joye Brown’s column “Long-shot odds for OTB future” [News column, Jan. 14]. It’s mind-boggling to me that Brown would be so cavalier in advocating the demise of 250 jobs and the commensurate damage to those lives.
Brown asks “why waste public money” on Suffolk Off-Track Betting? The answer is: OTB has never used public money, and the video-lottery terminal, or casino, is being funded through OTB’s public-private partnership with Delaware North Corporation. This is a Buffalo-based company with $2.6 billion a year in revenue and 55,000 employees worldwide.
Brown goes on to state that Long Island’s OTBs have contributed zero to their respective counties. Wrong again. Suffolk OTB contributed $1,015,554.15 to Suffolk County in 2015 through the winning wager surcharge. In fact, Suffolk OTB has contributed more than $207 million to Suffolk County and $150 million to other New York State municipalities since its inception.
I recently heard from a volunteer at a church-run soup kitchen in Patchogue. He sent me a note listing the tolls he had just paid to go to Atlantic City: $15 for the Verrazano Bridge, $3 for the Garden State Parkway, and $5 for the Outerbridge Crossing.
He sent this note because he supports opening the local casino so he can save on the tolls, fuel, vehicle expense and time. I submit that he is part of the true majority who will fill the casino when it opens.
Philip C. Nolan
Hauppauge
Editor’s note: The writer is president and chief executive of Suffolk OTB.
