SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Onondaga County legislators have added a last-minute item to their meeting agenda today, calling for a vote to join the state's off-track betting system. A similar resolution was withdrawn before a vote last month when it became clear it would not pass. But this time Legislature Chairman James Rhinehart said he expects to put the measure to...
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Onondaga County legislators have added a last-minute item to their meeting agenda today, calling for a vote to join the state's off-track betting system. A similar resolution was withdrawn before a vote last month when it became clear it would not pass. But this time Legislature Chairman James Rhinehart said he expects to put the measure to a vote.
What's changed since last month? Legislator Kathy Rapp, R-Salina, said she will offer a new resolution pledging to use the county's proceeds from OTB to support arts organizations that the county currently funds with tax dollars. A similar idea was floated in 2004, when the county Legislature rejected OTB.
Rapp will co-sponsor a resolution with Martin Masterpole, D-Syracuse, asking the state Legislature to make Onondaga County a member of Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., of Schenectady.
The two resolutions were just added to the agenda Friday, Rapp said.
Rapp said the proposed "funding stream for the arts'' may make OTB more appealing to her fellow legislators.
Capital OTB operates in 17 counties including Madison and Cortland. Officials of Capital OTB say Onondaga County bettors would generate at least $20 million a year in wagers, which would yield roughly $1 million in revenue to county government.
Rapp and other supporters say OTB would bring in much-needed revenue without any financial investment by the county. Local residents already travel to OTB parlors outside the county, or place OTB bets by phone and Internet, and those wagers should benefit this county rather than another, they said.
But the idea stirs passionate opposition from anti-gambling advocates, who say OTB would generate profits for the county from the losses of its residents, some of whom may develop gambling addictions.
Onondaga County is one of the most populous of the 13 counties in New York that have not joined OTB.
Between 1999 and 2008, OTB betting in New York declined 29 percent after factoring in inflation, according to a state task force. To help offset declining interest in horse racing, Capital OTB officials have lobbied for state approval of video gaming at special OTB teletheaters, but the chances of that are "remote at this time, " corporation officials told the county.