Saw some photos online of some old OTBs.....got very nostalgic for my youth spent in a variety of those locations. Question - I wasn\'t able to solve this - are there OTB locations outside the city still operating (i understand in NYC there are none). I would love to spend an afternoon at one just for kicks.
Also, does anybody remember when they changed from letters to numbers at OTB? I recall tickets on rectangular card stock with the horses having letters not numbers. For sure the 1970s were all letters. In the 1980s it started with letters but ended with numbers but I have no recollection if it was early or late -- but, for whatever reason, I loved rendering my bets in letters instead of numbers. oh those were the days....
It was very educational. I learned how the first 12 letters of the alphabet corresponded to the numbers of the entrants. I hit a J-A exacta that paid $590 for $2. (It was my daughter's October 1 BDay). Collected and stuffed the cash in my socks, and ran home.
Here you go
http://www.offtrackbettingnewyork.com/
I saved a bunch of the old slips where you wrote in the letters. mint condition.
wonder how many of these have survived the decades
click for a nostalgic look
https://ibb.co/dcxwQ6k
Back in the 1970s there would be strikes at NYRA where the mutual clerks were out and they would race at Belmont anyway. There was a NYC OTB an exit or 2 north on the Cross Island and if you hurried you could get your bets in between races & make it back to Belmont.
The closest Nassau OTB was on Hempstead Tpk in Franklin Square, I used to go to the one in Hempstead many times when I lived in South Hempstead.
It looks like the one in Franklin Square is still there. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7077725,-73.6792801,3a,75y,198.56h,97.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sArLLkagMZ2g4wwOaejuwZw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
The ones in Hempstead & Baldwin (which I could walk to from my parents house) are gone
Best thread in a LONG time. Love the tickets Boscar!!
Anyone remember the nyc otb outside yankee stadium real dive but after the day game ....
I went to the 1st OTB, it was in Grand Central Station used to take the E trian from Queens with in yrs. their was 1 on every block. my main OTB was on Queens Blvd and Continental. It was dirty and smoke filled but I loved it
philywheel
I remember when out of town tracks would only have stretch calls
Edgorman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was very educational. I learned how the first
> 12 letters of the alphabet corresponded to the
> numbers of the entrants. I hit a J-A exacta that
> paid $590 for $2. (It was my daughter's October
> 1 BDay). Collected and stuffed the cash in my
> socks, and ran home.
$10.10 more and you would have had an IRS signer. All those OTBs had 10 percenters. Thank god they finally got rational on the IRS signer rules. Those things made a mess of my tax returns for decades. My tax preparer could not understand how I could hit all these long odds large payoffs but still be a loser -- nowadays i could just give him the keys to my betting accounts. One year, I actually had to pay tax in NJ because my betting account at the Meadowlands showed that I was a winner in NJ -- In theory, you were supposed to keep track of your results by state. Talk about insanity. I think I was crying filing a return in a state where I didnt have any tie except betting there and had to declare myself a \"winning gambler\" in the state.
adelphi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here you go
>
> http://www.offtrackbettingnewyork.com/
Thank you. Got surf blocked at my office trying to access it, but am sure I will love it.
Boscar Obarra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I saved a bunch of the old slips where you wrote
> in the letters. mint condition.
>
> wonder how many of these have survived the
> decades
>
> click for a nostalgic look
>
> https://ibb.co/dcxwQ6k
I dont recall those. Were they a harness racing thing? I recall the paper slips you would fill out to get your ticket and some of the tellers were real sticklers -- would not take any verbal bets -- you had to fill out the slip -- i got shut out a couple of times fumbling with a dull pencil trying to get my bets written out under the wire.
As a young lad around 9 years old.
Don't know what OTB it was I think in Astoria of Steinway St.
Anyway remember going with my Uncles quite a few times.
Definitely left a impression the characters that's what I love and remember the characters.
Great nostalgia
When I was in college I used to come home for the summer & Nassau Downs OTB wasn\'t there yet. The only NYC OTB location I knew back then was in Far Rockaway, right near the Nassau County border. I had to drive through the 5 townsarea and cross the county line. The biggest problem was finding a parking space. There was only on street parking. It was a typical OTB, old men hanging out,lots of smoke etc. I\'d then go home and either listen to Pack at the track or the WCBS radio results.
When I 1st graduated college I stayed in the college town & they had put a Western Regional OTB in the adjoining city. I was working in a factory at night & I\'d hang out at OTB during the day. Back then there were no race calls & we had to wait until the results came over the wire. When the machine started typing the results a few of us gathered by the window to see the result, where one OTB employee would write the result down on a large sheet to hang under the entry page on the wall. There was a mute man who always was there & he\'d lean over the counter to see the results being transcribed and if it was a longshot he\'d mutter \"Big, big\". The funiest story I got out of my days at that OTB is I had gotten laid off at the factory and they needed me to come in and work a shift. They tried calling the house I was living at & couldn\'t get me, so they sent someone to OTB to tell me to work that night.
The best times I ever had at an OTB was the restaurant version on 2nd Avenue. A lot of us were regulars and we had a lot of fun between races, betting who knew the most about various Broadway shows -- and other trivia. My most memorable day involved the waitress asking if another person could sit at my two top, because there were no other seats available. I said \"sure\" and she brought Jimmy The Greek over to sit with me. I had a good day with 6 winners on the card...and The Greek got skunked. After the 8th race he looked at me and said \"I shudda been following you today.\"
Lots of fun at that place.
Before they changed the IRS rules I used to go to no surcharge OTB and bet the exotics on the machines putting my bets in in multiple $1 tickets. I hit 2 bets that paid over $600 for $2. One of them I had $20 on a $1,013 for $2 P4 and since each ticket was under $600 I never had to sign & collected all the money after converting the tickets to vouchers. The other time I had $10 on a trifecta that paid over $1,200 for $2. They had to fill out ten separate W-2G forms. I had 2 or 3 of the OTB clerks filling out the forms until they got the 10 W-2G done for me to sign.
Couldn\'t tell you if that was harness only, but don\'t see why it would have been .