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Breaking: OTB avoids the glue factory
Photo credit: Urbanite
The bets will continue as they have for decades at the Winners Circle OTB at West 38th Street. (Photo by Tiffany L. Clark)
Updated story here.
In a photo finish, it’s OTB by a nose.
Hours before a threatened shutdown, officials from the state and city government struck a deal to keep the city’s 68 off-track betting parlors alive.
The deal came after a weekend of bizarre announcement regarding the future of the beleaguered institution.
On Friday, Gov. David Paterson announced at an afternoon press conference, surrounded by legislative leaders and OTB union officials, “There is a deal. The mayor and I have talked, and he is relieved that there will be a continuance of activity.”
Less than three hours later however, Mayor Michael Bloomberg released a statement saying, “The city of New York still has substantial legal and economic issues," Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement. "Without a settlement of these outstanding issues, we will have no choice but to go forward with our plan to close the city's OTB parlors on Sunday."
Last minute negotiations centered around whether or not the city would continue to reap a percentage of OTB profit if the state took over operations.
More details soon.
--David Freedlander
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