State: NYRA overcharged bettors by millions
Racing & Wagering Board to require paybacks, donation to charity
BY james m. odato, Capitol bureau
Updated 03:32 p.m., Wednesday, December 21, 2011
SCHENECTADY -— The state Racing & Wagering Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to admonish the New York Racing Association for overcharging bettors millions of dollars over the past 15 months.
The action happened at a board meeting after racing officials discovered NYRA overcharged by 1 percentage point the amount it kept from some \"exotic\" bets. Those bets include Pick 6 (on carryover days), Pick 3, Pick 4, trifecta and superfecta wagers, according to NYRA\'s website.
NYRA, which runs races for the state at the Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga thoroughbred tracks, will be required to pay back bettors about $8.6 million, according to one state official, if it can track them down through racing accounts. It will also have to help clear up IRS issues with those who won exotic bets during the period. Further, NYRA will be required to pay a $50,000 contribution to a racing-related charity.
The overcharges occurred not just on bets from NYRA tracks, but also on those handled by remote betting agencies involving NYRA races.
The racing association was supposed to reduce the maximum sum it kept from such bets to 25 percent starting on Sept. 15, 2010, but continued to charge a 26 percent takeout, according to two state officials. NYRA is cooperating with the state on the corrective measures, according to a spokesman for the racing board. NYRA will be expected to charge 24 percent a period of time that the racing board will determine.
\"The board is looking out for the best interests of the betting public,\" said Lee Park, a press officer for the racing board.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/State-NYRA-overcharged-bettors-by-millions-2417804.php#ixzz1hCpAfDTQ
Holy crap, I had a better year than I thought.
Miff, I\'m guessing you\'ll have some comments after you pick yourself off the floor (like I did).
JB,
In the spirit of the Holidays, happy to all, I\'ll go easy!
Just say the Clueless Clowns at NYRA, management and board,should be immediately replaced for attempting to rob it\'s customers(Lets not forget NYRA\'s illegal dipping into the till to cover operating expenses).Even if an innocent oversight,they\'re consistent display of incompetence,along with their overall lack of business acumen, never fails to rear it\'s head.Where have you ever heard a quasi-NY State agency, NYRA,needing outside oversight to the tune of costing $125K per month(Getnick & Getnick)
Can\'t wait for shameless NYRA shill Little Andy, pal or not, to spin this one.
Mike
I found this paragraph in the DRF interesting.
The error also had an impact nationwide, by delivering more revenue to out-of-state wagering sites and account-wagering operations that took the NYRA signal. Out-of-state betting operations keep the difference between the takeout and the amount they pay for the signal, and in this case, they would have retained an additional 1 percent of the betting handle on all NYRA races since Sept. 15, 2010.
Seems like one of those situations where \"Oops!\" just isn\'t good enough.
My head hurts just thinking about this. Which is worse, that they knew about it, or they didn\'t?
And for the \"signers\" that were hit between 9/15/10 and 9/31/10, will all this go to the IRS, as well? If that\'s the case, NYRA, you can keep the six bucks I\'d be collecting on the $605 Pick 4, from October 2010.
Im curious about what ADWs will do. I realize most of you whales don\'t use them because the rebates are awful, but for the more casual player who does, there is a database log of every single wager placed. Does this mean we can expect 1% back on all of those? Or are they only paying it back on signer tickets?
As I read the articles, they are not requiring out of state bettors to be refunded the money they missed out on. Also, I cannot figure out what they will do about those of us who were betting at NYC OTB (both online and in person) before it went bankrupt. Who knows where those records are now. What a mess this is.
Phew, *wiping sweat off brow* its really good for NYRA that the \'mistake\' in pricing went in THEIR favor. What a lucky break.
Bye Bye Clueless NYRA management?? Megna and Di Napoli highly critical of NYRA since Cuomo became Gov. Megna has Gov\'s ear and been open about \"changes\" that need to be made on the NY Management racing front.Great opportunity for change and hopefully not just a few more politically appointed stooges, although probable.Hope Bennet Liebman gets involved here.
Clueless Clowns at NYRA don\'t even understand that they owe the overcharged money to \"winners\" of races already run during the period. Giving a takeout reduction going forward does not make all of us who \"got beat\" whole, f--king idiots!! Can\'t imagine those with computer records of short paid winning bets will not sue for the shortfall.
Fallout Expected From NY Takeout Blunder
By Tom Precious
Bettors in North America were overcharged more than $7 million by the New York Racing Association over the past 15 months in higher-than-allowed pari-mutuel takeout rates on exotic wagers, an embarrassing mistake certain to add to NYRA's woeful relations with state officials.
The error, caught by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in an ongoing audit of a state breeders' fund account, involved a period of more than a year when NYRA was charging a 26% takeout rate instead of the legally permitted 25% level.
The takeout blunder, which missed the eyes of New York State Racing and Wagering Board officials and a financial oversight panel, raised new problems for NYRA with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration, which has shown little patience for the racing corporation that runs Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga.
NYRA several years ago was permitted by the state to charge a 26% takeout rate on some wagers, but that level was to drop to 25% more than a year ago. NYRA, in a public apology meant to appease regulators and bettors, said it would immediately drop the takeout rate to 24%.
Robert Megna, chairman of the state government's NYRA oversight board, said in a Dec. 21 letter to NYRA president Charles Hayward that bettors had been "improperly" charged a higher-than-allowed takeout level since Sept. 15, 2010.
"Fairness to bettors demands that this action cannot be allowed to stand,\" Megna wrote. He said that whether the overcharge was due to "malfeasance or inadvertence," immediate action must be taken "to repair the damage\" caused by NYRA.
In a pointed jab at NYRA's payroll, Megna criticized NYRA's claims that pay hikes given to its management "rings hollow in light of NYRA's failure to manage a most basic accounting task."
The franchise oversight chairman, who is also Cuomo's top fiscal adviser, said bettors that use advance deposit wagering systems must be immediately reimbursed for the NYRA mistake. He agreed with a decision by NYRA earlier in the day to lower the takeout rate from the 25% allowed by law to 24%.
Megna also backed a plan to impose a financial penalty on NYRA. Megna also said, interestingly, that he would be "remiss" if he did not also express his "deep disappointment in the failure of the racing and wagering board to adequately discharge its regulatory responsibilities" to catch the accounting error by NYRA.
The matter poses problems, state sources said, for NYRA and the racing board's leadership, which was not appointed by the current Cuomo administration since it took office nearly a year ago. Given Megna's unusual public rebuke, it remains uncertain whether NYSRWB chairman John Sabini can hold onto his post under the weight of the new NYRA controversy.
NYRA officials called the mistake "unintentional" and announced a cut in the takeout rate on trifecta, superfecta, Grand Slam, Pick 3, Pick 4, and Pick 6 wagers from 26% to 24%. The higher levels were approved by state officials in 2008 when NYRA was granted a new franchise agreement to operate the three tracks.
The takeout rates was supposed to be reduced by NYRA 15 months ago, but the lower rates for bettors did not, as planned by law, occur. NYRA blamed the mistake on the "complexity" of the state's takeout provisions.
miff Wrote:
NYRA
> blamed the mistake on the "complexity" of the
> state's takeout provisions.
OK, I have no familiarity whatsoever with the \"complexity\" of the state\'s takeout provisions, but logic suggests that if they understood it well enough to get it to 26%, how much more difficult is it to get it to 25?
Takeout is the life blood of NYRA. How do you get that wrong?
You want to know the truth here, speak to the guy that handles their programming.
If you can find them.
Couple of things. Boscar, if by \"if you can find them\", you mean that there were people who knew (systems pawns, finance knights), but who had no juice, I agree. Three or four at least. If you mean they are in Jamaica Bay wearing cement loafers ... not so dire, I\'d think.
Second thing. This is not a 1% error. After all the other cuts from the 25 or 26 are paid, what\'s left for NYRA? This is a 10% to 20% error, minimum (don\'t have the splits handy, but I\'d guess it\'s closer to 20%). They were making 10 to 20% more on this handle than they should have. For a year. The idea that no one noticed and figured it out in a day or two is ludicrous.
According to this, someone was complaining and still no action was taken:
http://pullthepocket.blogspot.com/2011/12/nyra-takeout-situation-plot-thickens.html
\"If bettors figured it out on a chat board and posted about it several times, it looks like we might put to bed the \"it was too complex\" theory\"(by nyra)
Thanks Bit,
Do you think the term Clueless Clowns was just pulled out of the air??
Mike
The joke to me is how, the \"Clueless Clowns\" are trying to spin this error by \"we are giving back to the players a 2% reduction in takeout\"....
BS...it was already mandated to be reduced 1% by NYSRWB...it\'s just mind boggling
On another note..Asmussen looks to have a strong hand in the Malibu
Doing the Malibu as a ROTW, goes up later.
In 2010 Hayward made $460 K.
Kehoe made $413K
Ellen Mclain, another Senior Vice President and Chiif Financial Officer, made $325K.
Pat Mahony, who is listed in the \'11 NYRA guide as \"senior VP\" in charge of parimutuel operations, did not have a salary in the BH article I looked at. I\'m guessing he\'d be the highest up culpable criminal, but what do I know.
I used to be to the right of Atilla the Hun, more of a fan of capitalism than Gordon Gecko. But when are we going to start changing statutes so we can start criminally prosecuting these people, and start putting the fear of God (or at least getting sodimized) in them?
Really, they could have my hundred buck rebate to fund the prosecution.
I mean, Martha Stewart does hard time?
If Hayward retains his job after YET ANOTHER fiasco, I have no doubt that
Clueless Charles is double dipped in Teflon and Kevlar and/or is in possession
of photos of key NY state officials/politicians having flagrant fun with farm
animals.
I will say it, DRF publisher and Hayward amigo Steve Crist never will: Give NY
racing and its fans a Christmas present and resign immediately.
Folks getting awfully exercised about the 1%. It\'s the other 25 that should bother you.
Merry Xmas.
The ADW I use just credited my account (6 months later) for the 1% excess takeout. I\'d like to parlay it into a ROTW if there is one.
Going to be the Fleur De Lis at CD.
I\'m from northern nj and bet mostly ny tracks. i put in a $200 win bet in saratoga and try to beat the traffic and go home. i have to go town the irs window to collect show id and have picture taken. on a 3-1 horse. i want to see pictures of the thieves from nyra holding up a number
that is nonsense. No pics at 3-1 600 for 2 yes.