Clueless Clowns STILL at it!!

[miff]

If true Charlie Hayward and the board goners!!



Probe of NYRA Execs May be Launched
By Tom Precious

When it was revealed last year that takeout rates on exotic wagers were not lowered as required by law, executives with the New York Racing Association said they were caught unaware of the problem and quickly moved to make some bettors whole.

Now, according to state racing regulators, some top NYRA officials were not only aware the rates should have been lowered, but acted to cover up their actions and moved to comply with the law only after government auditors uncovered the multi-million dollar error.

In a potentially crippling blow, regulators now want a state investigative office with broad subpoena and other powers to launch a probe of NYRA executives.

Further, they are raising questions about the ability of some NYRA management to continue to hold their racing licenses.

Officials said NYRA president Charles Hayward, who led the public charge in denying any knowledge of the problem on behalf of the racing group, was aware early on that the takeout was illegally inflated.

The latest controversy comes as the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already been losing patience with NYRA's leadership over everything from attempts to keep NYRA pay raises secret to the recent spate of equine deaths during NYRA's winter meet.

"The report is deeply troubling," Robert Megna, chairman of a state panel that oversees NYRA's finances, said in an April 29 letter to NYRA board chairman C. Steven Duncker.

An interim report by the state Racing and Wagering Board submitted to Megna, who is also Cuomo's budget director, portrays a culture of deception at NYRA over the takeout issue.

A 26% takeout rate was supposed to, by law, be reduced in September 2010 to 25% on certain exotic wagers; state regulators did not catch the error until December 2011. Bettors were overcharged $8.5 million, of which NYRA received $1.1 million; most of the money was not able to be returned.

Officials sharply criticized NYRA for withholding what they say are thousands of documents sought by investigators looking into the takeout matter. The investigation's findings were first revealed April 30 by the New York Times.

In his letter to Duncker, Megna said NYRA has made "inaccurate claims" about the takeout situation to both his oversight board and regulators at the racing board, as well as to the public. Megna said Hayward "took action to keep from the public any knowledge of the takeout error."

Megna said he wants a NYRA board response by May 4, and he held out the possibility that people at NYRA could lose their state racing licenses over the matter.

Megna said the racing board interim report "calls into question whether the 'character and general fitness' of NYRA executives meets the standards necessary to be licensed in the racing industry in New York."

The top Cuomo administration official said he has asked the state Inspector General's office, which can get involved in criminal investigations, to launch a probe of NYRA.

Megna said NYRA executives "knowingly" overcharged bettors for 15 months and purposely did not correct the problem "out of concern for financial and political consequences to NYRA."

The interim report said Hayward and other top NYRA officials knew the higher takeout law, enacted in 2008, had expired. One bettor, the investigation found, notified Hayward in September 2010--the same month the takeout was due to be lowered.

Nearly a year later, the report said, Daily Racing Form publisher and columnist Steve Crist relayed an email to Hayward from a reader that the takeout rates were illegally high.

"Mr. Hayward emailed Mr. Crist on August 1, 2011, confirming that the reader was correct and requested that Mr. Crist keep the information confidential. Mr. Crist agreed," the report said.

NYRA recently told regulators that nearly 10,000 members of its rewards account were credited with $438,000 for the takeout overcharges. The vast majority of wagers were placed at other tracks or through advance deposit wagering operations, and so will never get refunds.

Duncker, the NYRA chairman, said he has spoken with Megna about the matter. "The NYRA board of directors takes the concerns expressed in this report very seriously," Duncker said in a statement April 30.

In his own letter to Megna, state Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini said the findings of his agency so far into the takeout problem are "significant."

[sighthound]

Well.  

How.  About.  That.

[sighthound]

Bump. Please read this article, folks.

[plasticman]

in the third sentence from the bottom, you say \"the vast majority of wagers were placed at other tracks or thru ADW operations will never get refunds\'

Does this mean that NYRA still has, in their possession, the stolen money?

[albany]

Miff:

I have dealt with the Inspector General\'s in regard to several matters over the years. If they investigate, they will uncover any wrongdoing and will refer the matter for criminal prosecution. Haywood and his associates have reason to be concerned.

Albany

[moosepalm]

plasticman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> in the third sentence from the bottom, you say
> \"the vast majority of wagers were placed at other
> tracks or thru ADW operations will never get
> refunds\'
>
> Does this mean that NYRA still has, in their
> possession, the stolen money?


If it were me, I\'d play the Jon Corzine card right now.

Hell, I got my check for $24.  I don\'t see the problem here.

It\'s politics, so you never know how the deck is going to be shuffled, but I don\'t get the feeling that Andrew Cuomo has a soft spot in his heart for appointees in cushy jobs whose go-to tools in crisis management are a broom and threadbare rug.

[Topcat]

moosepalm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> plasticman Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > in the third sentence from the bottom, you say
> > \"the vast majority of wagers were placed at
> other
> > tracks or thru ADW operations will never get
> > refunds\'
> >
> > Does this mean that NYRA still has, in their
> > possession, the stolen money?
>
>
> If it were me, I\'d play the Jon Corzine card right
> now.
>
> Hell, I got my check for $24.  I don\'t see the
> problem here.
>
> It\'s politics, so you never know how the deck is
> going to be shuffled, but I don\'t get the feeling
> that Andrew Cuomo has a soft spot in his heart for
> appointees in cushy jobs whose go-to tools in
> crisis management are a broom and threadbare rug.


Wouldn\'t be too optimistic about the Big A\'s sustained existence as a racing center in the intermediate term . . .