The transformation of New York City's 70-odd OTB parlors looks unlikely after Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week that the $1 billion a year business would not be sold. The Giuliani administration attempted to forge a partnership last summer between the city and a Canadian entertainment firm whereby the gambling parlors--known for their rough clientele--were to be converted into family-oriented restaurants. The sale was projected to generate $250 million for city coffers.

Giuliani removed the projected revenue from the city budget in December, freeing up the Bloomberg administration to decide on the issue.

"We are not trying to sell it, it is not in the budget," said Bloomberg at a press conference last week.

Bloomberg introduced the new OTB president--Raymond Casey--at the press conference.

Bloomberg's announcement is yet another example of Giuliani-era proposals being shelved as the city copes with a budget crisis and the rebuilding of lower Manhattan. At the time of the initial announcement last summer, the proposal to make-over OTB was hailed by the Giuliani administration as "one of the most profitable privatizations in New York City history."

That administration's hopes to sell the OTB parlors were dimmed last summer when the unions that represent most of the city's 1,700 OTB employees opposed it.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Hagedorn Publication
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