In the race for gambling dollars, Connecticut’s Off-Track Betting is fast becoming a long shot.
Revenues are off dramatically in the face of stiff competition from casinos and a sputtering economy that has left many people without enough income to put down the traditional bets on horse and dog races that are struggling themselves to stay afloat.
On a recent weekday afternoon at the Barlow Street betting parlor, only a handful of people milled around inside a tired-looking interior lined with television screens and vending machines....
The take at Connecticut state OTB parlors has plummeted from a high of $281 million in 2003 to $198 million last year, but the decline has been even more precipitous in Bristol and New Britain.
In Bristol, gamblers forked over a high of $10.5 million in 2001. By last year, they wagered just $5.1 million, less than half as much.
New Britain’s OTB office peaked in 2002 with $18.2 million in bets. That’s sunk to $11.8 million, a 35 percent drop.
But perhaps most noteworthy is that the pace of decline has grown steeper.
In the past two years, Bristol bettors forked over 38 percent fewer dollars. Click here for the whole story.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
17 comments:
That's OK, spend-o-crat politicians like Kevin McCauley will just raise our taxes and tell us to shut up and take it.
Typical Bristol logic. The OTB in Bristol only made 5.1 mil. so lets close it ?????? Da!
No wonder they wanted to put a bank across the street.
Why not put the welfare office there too?
The Pine Street project could work if done right. Besides horse racing, the teletheater could show major sports events like the World Cup the Super Bowl or the World Series. Many musicians are now doing closed - circuit concerts in order to reach a larger audience with less touring cost. Combined with a more up-scale sports bar/ steakhouse it could be an interesting venue. The trick is to market it to more than just the aging and dwindling OTB crowd.
I assume one of the reasons for the delay so far is the Rt. 72 roadwork in the area.
12:13
Ward is the key tax raiser!
If he wasn't he wouldn't be getting rid of Peterson and Moylan!
Alan:
With all due respect for a man of your presence; physical, mental and that of one with strong ties to the powerful Democrat political players of Bristol...for a teacher your punctuation stinks. Good thing you teach history (revisionist thought without a doubt).
July 12, 2010 12:33 PM:
Although I believe Ward is being pressured by the interest groups in town that control the Democrat Party (public labor and their hacks on the council like McCauley and Matthews), you're right. The buck needs to stop somewhere (albeit the man who coined that phrase, Harry Truman was controlled by unions himself).
3:54
Lets see what kind of wimps Ward puts on to replace Moylan and Peterson!
And how long it takes them to learn what is happening.
7:21 pm: Sounds like you'd fit the position perfectly.
Meanwhile, Bristol comes in at #84 in CNN/Money's 100 best small cities in the U.S.
I guess the selection of Renaissance to do Depot Square is already paying off. I wonder how their P.R. people managed that!
7:56
I agree.
Too bad we don't have anything to say about it!
Allen:
Perhaps the person you are describing or whom you think the person you are describing is, is correct.
If you don't see the fact that you inappropriately left our commas in your first sentence of your first post here you're lacking the brains you obviosuly think you have.
12:17- I hate to point it out but as you rail away about bad punctuation you use the word is twice and then forget the y in your. Pot meet Kettle
July 13, 2010 2:36 PM:
Maybe you need to learn how to read before you critique?
Allen Marko:
So are you saying you're not a Marxist nor do you believe in anything Marx believed? Did you not have your own blog called "My Left Nut"? Don't you believe that government should control industry? Aren't you for great union power? Aren't you for bigger government in general? Have you not railed against capitalism? Aren't you critical of business, corporations, profits and Wall Street? You strongly support political people on the fringe left (55% of Americans believe Obama is a socialist) and the people you berate here on the blog support people who are basically moderates. You berate certain people for un-kind (in your opinion) comments but you do the same and you get your political allies to attack those people personally for you. You are a small man not a big man. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Dear 12:17 7/13 (Alex)
I've broken a long-standing vow not to post here because I was genuinely interested in the subject. Your infantile responses prove the wisdom of my prior stance.
However, I've come to realize that if I don't express my opinions then you have succeeded in your attempt to bully me into silence.
Therefore, I will post, just no longer feed trolls like you. As a result, the world will surely be safe from democracy. LOL (That means it was an intentional error, Alex. We intellectual snobs sometimes call them Spoonerisms, although that probably wasn't a true one. I'm sure you'll let me know)
July 13, 2010 7:50 PM:
Allen Marko calling anyone a "bully" and/or "infantile" is like Hitler (if he were alive) calling someone a bigot.
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