RIP OTB

A moment of silence for Off-Track-Betting, that staple of my life in NYC. OTB is DEAD. Or dying. I'm not really sure which because I've never actually been inside one. But I liked to know it was still around, somewhere on 5th Avenue in lower Park Slope, draining everybody's resources (and apparently the state's too).

An obit from obit magazine online (who knew?) in its "mourning" roundup. Get it? Kind of good.

Although the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation has threatened numerous times over the years to shut down its Off-Track Betting parlors, those storefront gambling establishments, few expected they would actually do it.

Well, they did. And, as the New York Times put it, “another piece of gritty old New York [has] gone the way of the Automat and the Times Square peep show.”

The New York State Assembly passed a bill two weeks ago to float the money-losing enterprise, but the State Senate refused to carry the bill through leaving it dead on the floor and shuttering the doors of around 50 OTB’s around the city.

Fans of OTB on Facebook (yes they have a Facebook page) shared memories of harness-racing majesty, conjuring names of jockeys and horses from days of yore:

Al Greco: “I remember, in my growing up days as a Harness racing fan, names Like, StanLey Dancer, BiLL Haughton, Carm AbbateLLo & Horses Like Adios ButLer + So Mac Lad come to mind! /// Indeed, those days were the 'GoLden days of Harness Racing!”

Workers swept up ripped ticket discards for the last time Tuesday night.

Got an OTB story to share? Probably not 'cause you nouveau baby gamblers prefer your gambling online and make the FIPSters do all the heavy lifting wordwise. But if you do.... now's the time.