Clueless Clowns at it again

[miff]

Clueless Clown Charlie Hayward, a joke as NYRA CEO, about to have the roof cave in on him. Staten Island State Senator Andrew Lanza has some \"racing people\" in his ear.Full court press(being worked on)will be put on NYRA for total transparency(besides finances) in many areas,some highly favorable to players.

\"Panel Ready to Investigate NYRA\"
By Tom Precious

A day after citing concerns about a lack of fiscal transparency, a New York state panel has called for an investigation of the New York Racing Association.

Robert Megna, who is the budget director for New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and chairman of the Franchise Oversight Board, released a stinging letter to NYRA President Charles Hayward saying that the lack of cooperation with state officials looking into the racing group's finances "will be treated with the utmost seriousness."

The June 21 letter came a day after NYRA officials declined to provide detailed information on a number of fronts, including management raises and an out-of-state simulcasting contract with a Churchill Downs-owned entity.

"I continue to have substantial concerns about NYRA's ability to bring racing operations into the black," Megna said in a letter to Hayward.

Hayward declined comment, saying he had not yet received the letter from Megna.

The state Inspector General's office, which has far-reaching investigatory powers, will be looking into the concerns by Megna.

Megna, who also expressed his "disappointment" with Hayward's failure to personally appear before the fiscal oversight panel this week, said he has forwarded his concerns to the inspector general "for appropriate examination of NYRA's operation."

Megna noted that the NYRA meeting this week had already been rescheduled to take into account NYRA\'s schedule. Franchise board members openly grumbled about Hayward\'s failure to personally appear. "Being the body that is statutorily authorized to oversee your organization\'s operations, we trust that in the future you will make yourself available for questions," Megna wrote Hayward.

The oversight panel, created to monitor NYRA's finances, has limited fiscal authority over NYRA. Its members openly complained June 20 during a meeting with NYRA officials at the Capitol that annual budget information from NYRA is late and incomplete with details.

Megna complained that NYRA's budget submission to the oversight panel included no information about management raises, even though its wages are projected to increase 5% this year. "Given current fiscal realities, and with NYRA projecting an $11 million deficit, the board believes that your actions in this area warrant justification," Megna wrote Hayward.

Megna noted that NYRA's overall handle on NYRA races is projected to drop 1.4% this year, with operating expenses rising 7%. "Even with VLT revenues beginning to flow, it is not clear after extrapolating current trends that racing operations are sustainable without significant restructuring," Megna warned.

Megna called on NYRA to submit a long-term plan "to bring racing operations into long-term solvency."

NYRA for decades has had a hot and cold relationship with state officials. Regulators have long complained of secrecy by the operator of Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga racetracks.

The sharp criticism of NYRA, and calls for a formal state probe, come as efforts are stalled at the Capitol on a number of racing-related matters, including some lawmakers' push to let off-track betting entities enter the New York City market to re-start parlor business shut off when the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. closed late last year.

The call by Megna for an investigation also came the same day the Legislature gave final approal to a measure requiring betting call centers by New York racing groups to be located within New York state. The bill is in response to a decision by NYRA to award its call center business to Oregon-based TwinSpires.com, which is owned by Churchill Downs.

"Our state has invested a tremendous amount of money in NYRA over the years and it is ridiculous that the new jobs created by the call center contract will be going out-of-state instead of benefitting New Yorkers. This bill prevents such a decision from occurring in the future, so that the jobs these call centers generate will be kept in-state,\'\' said Sen. Andrew Lanza, a Staten Island Republican.

[HP]

It\'s funny that in one breath they are saying NYRA can\'t move its operations into the black and in the next breath they are going to force them to maintain their own call center and not let them subcontract (I assume this would save NYRA some money)?  I work on state bids and contracts and they routinely restrict subcontracting so I don\'t know why this isn\'t built into whatever \"charter\" NYRA has now.  

If Heyward isn\'t going to show up they should be able to get rid of him.  HP

[TGJB]

Anyone offering an analysis of NYRA\'s situation and neglecting to mention the closing of OTB is immediately suspect in the agenda department. Whether they turn out to be right or not.

[miff]

Anyone not understanding that the closing of NYC OTB was/is an OPPORTUNITY for NYRA but they do not have the wherewithal to do so.No serious plan or bold innovation has been presented by NYRA to exploit the OTB closing.

There is no defending NYRA\'s consistent under performance dating way back and presently,poor economy aside.Lack of bottom line accountability creates inertia, thats NYRA.In a public or privately held company,NYRA\'s top management and board would have been fired long ago.

JB,of course there are those involved with a political agenda, that the way the system works when government is involved.

Mike

[Niall]

One only has to compare the NYRA wagering platform with its competitors to know that they are @!%$ clueless !! Whats his name, Ghazi ... Has he ever made a wager?? Its pathetic !! And JB and HP hit it out of the park mentioning the closing of OTB and NYRA\'s inability to capitalize ... These are the people Hayward is worrying about leaving if they are not paid the market rate? I am pretty certain they would be exposed in the open marketplace ... and while I\'m at it, did anyone find it hard to get a cocktail at Belmont during the stakes weekend? It was impossible ... And those TV\'s ...

[TGJB]

To some degree NYRA has capitalized. And it\'s not clear what else they can do without getting approval to open branches in the city.

[Lost Cause]

The TV\'s are murder.  Don\'t touch them either because if you try to change the channel to get a different track you\'ll find out that they will only go up not down and  you\'ll end up stuck on an ab - roller infomercial for the rest of the day and they will not come fix it to punish you for touching it.

[Niall]

NYRA has capitalized by default imo ... One could guess that all ADW\'s benefited in some way by the closure. What I mean is they could have improved their mkt share by improving the online product ... Thinking about it though, until the state does something with the all the OTB franchises, its probably not worth it. Jerry have you considered aligning Thorograph with an ADW, similar to what the Saratoga Raceway has done with SaratogaBets and DRF with DRF Bets They are just using the infrastructure of an existing platform with a different front end.

[TGJB]

Yes, we have considered it. Maybe down the line.

[SJU5]

Everybody is again killing NYRA for NOT capitalizing on the closing of NYC OTB\'s/ What exactly do you think they should have done? Their on track attendance is up, their acquiring of new NYRA One account holders is up. And yes, most of the increases are by default, but WHAT ELSE should NYRA have done in the months the OTB\'s went away?

And if their business model is to run a more efficient and cost effective telephone account service for it\'s patrons so they keep more profit, what is the big deal to farm it out of state. They should keep it in state for double the hourly wage like NYC OTB did and go broke quicker?

NYRA petitioned the NYSRWB to get live video on their NYRA One accounts and they got it after years of being told no. That\'s a huge plus...and NYRA doesn\'t care if you keep $1.00 in your account, you still get the signal. Does any other betting ADW offer that to it\'s patrons?

[miff]

SJ,

Any gains are pure default.Several of the former restaurant style OTB\'s approached NYRA for a similar deal(one owner a friend). Smug NYRA stalled and did nothing. NYRA has, on the books, authority to open 8-12? type simo/restaurants and have done nothing.Many former NYC OTB customers also went with other AWD\'s from which clueless NYRA gets a small share, could have had it all if they acted more agressively.Some pure neighborhood OTB players have disappeared from the pools.

Ran the worst phone wagering service on the planet for a very brief time before having to outsource it, complaints off the charts.Refused to hire former NYC OTB high roller line telephone operators,as suggested(willing to negotiate salary/benefits). Hired \"their own\" people who could barely speak English, inexperienced minimum wage. Does not cut it for gamblers betting big money or any player,clueless NYRA unaware of delicate gambler psyche.

NYRA\'s ability to run the racing product alone is marginal, it\'s ability to run a complete GAMBLING business and all that goes with it, non existent.


Mike

[trackjohn]

I\'ve been a NYRA account member for > 20 years and have been a Nassau OTB account holder for just as long.  Have primarily used the NYRA account...until now...in my experience, the NYRA account website routinely crashes or terminates the connection within 2 minutes...as far as the NYRA telephone wagering is concerned since NYCOTB went out of business is absolutely worthless (constant \'busy\' signals, even when the call goes through excessive time waiting for an operator is absurd, etc..).  It is clear that NYRA was unable or unwilling to address the increased volume, hence the \'outsourcing\'...still, it does not explain their lack of resources/interest in expanding their website wagering infrastructure. They have expanded their live video of most tracks but so has other wagering platforms including Nassau/Suffolk OTB

  Due to NYRA\'s lack of vision I have, unfortunately, gone back to using the Nassau OTB website (no surcharge if wagers are placed through the web, but no rebates either).  At least it works, has live video, has a better tote board interface than NYRA\'s site does and works far better on a mobile platform (ex. droid) that NYRA ever did!

[SJU5]

Miff and TJ:

Here\'s what I read directly from Bloodhorse:
\"NYCOTB closed Dec. 8, 2010. Taking a proactive stance, NYRA got out front by offering to switch OTB customers to its NYRA Rewards ADW. OTB customers avoided the typical hassles of signing up for a betting account that could take days to process. Instead, one could open a NYRA Rewards account in an advertised "10 minutes to post."

Since then, nearly 10,000 people have opened accounts with NYRA Rewards, which has generated $38 million in handle, according to Neema Ghazi, NYRA's director of marketing. That's significant because a wager through NYRA's ADW is considered an ontrack wager, which returns a larger slice of the takeout to purses than a bet made through one of the state's OTBs.\"

Full article here: http://cs.bloodhorse.com/blogs/wgoh/archive/2011/06/14/new-york-s-got-attitude-again.aspx

As for their racing signal on their web site, I too am pretty frustrated most of the time! Darn thing shuts off or logs you off after almost each race! Makes you think that their thought is :if your not betting...your not watching! On Derby Day I bet most of the card and it NEVER SHUT DOWN!