US News

STATE’S OTB REVENUES PULLING UP LAME

The action is way down at the Off-Track Betting Corp. since the state took it off the city’s hands in June, The Post has learned.

Officials are projecting that OTB will collect $900 million in bets for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, down $100 million, or 10 percent.

“We’re in a trend now in the past three to four months where the other OTBs have outperformed our operation, and that’s not acceptable,” OTB Chairman David Cornstein told the board at an Oct. 3 meeting.

Nassau OTB, for example, is down just 4 percent. Suffolk OTB’s revenues are flat.

Cornstein told The Post that the city OTB’s 10 percent downturn in July and August slowed to 8 percent in September, and “we’re starting to come back now.”

He again called for a merger of OTB and the New York Racing Association to pare duplicative costs. Cornstein said he’s “optimistic” that the Paterson administration understands the need to take a broad view toward reforming the racing industry, instead of “looking for little Band-Aids.”

david.seifman@nypost.com