Comptroller to audit OTB again

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DiNapoli’s office will probe OTB practices past and present. Former CEO Henry Wojtaszek, left, current CEO Byron Brown, right. Photo by Garrett Looker.

For a third time in recent years, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office will audit the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.

In a statement Monday, comptroller spokesperson Mark Johnson said the agency will audit “the financial operations of WROTB.” He said the comptroller’s office informed OTB of the audit last week and that it would begin in February.

The review, broader in scope than the comptroller’s past audits, will take several months to complete, Johnson said.

In a statement, OTB spokesperson Michael DeGeorge said the audit could include a review of agency finances stretching back three to five years.

“The President and CEO made it clear that the new management team will fully cooperate with the Comptroller’s office throughout the process and that we welcome the outside review,” DeGeorge said.

The announcement follows calls by Buffalo-area officials and statewide advocacy groups for probes into OTB operations.

In November, for example, Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick wrote to DiNapoli to request a “performance and management” audit of OTB. He cited a slew of issues, including: 

• Six-figure buyout agreements for former CEO Henry Wojtaszek and two other departing officials.
• Salary increases “which appear to lack merit.”
• The hiring of staff “who have no background in racing or gaming.”
• Hiring consultants “without conducting any apparent competitive procurement.”
• Sponsorships of various groups that “have not been approved by the Board of Directors and which appear to serve little purpose.”

Hardwick noted that Timothy Callan — his deputy and a member of the OTB board of directors — has had little luck obtaining information about the cited issues.

Also in November, three good government groups — Reinvent Albany, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters — wrote to DiNapoli requesting a “top to bottom” audit of OTB, citing similar issues. Those groups specifically named “golden parachutes for departing executives, nepotistic hiring, and an outsize salary for the incoming CEO.”

Their complaint about “golden parachutes” refers to the buyout agreements for Wojtaszek, departing CFO Jacqulyn Leach and departing Vice President of Operations William White.

The nepotistic hiring claim refers to OTB hiring Wojtaszek’s son at Batavia Downs last year while his father was still CEO.

The final complaint refers to new CEO Byron Brown’s $295,000 annual salary. Brown is the highest-paid OTB leader in New York. Wojtaszek left the agency earning $299,000 after nearly a decade on the job. 

Jennifer Freeman, another spokesperson from DiNapoli’s office, said the audit would not review the buyouts offered to Wojtaszek or the other executives, citing an ongoing probe by the state Inspector General.

“We are not reviewing the severance package of the prior administration given IG is examining,” she said.

In the Inspector General’s probe, inspectors requested documents from OTB sometime in the fall related to the buyout agreements. DeGeorge, the OTB spokesperson, told Investigative Post in December that the agency “fully complied” with the request for documents. The Inspector General’s office has not released any findings.

Terry Connors, an attorney for OTB, told Investigative Post at the time that he believes the buyouts are “in compliance with the law.”

The IG’s probe followed a request made over the summer by then Assemblywoman Monica Wallace and state Sen. Sean Ryan for investigations into the buyouts to both Attorney General Letitia James and the IG’s office. The lawmakers at the time said they believed the buyouts to be illegal.

DiNapoli last completed audits of OTB in 2021, finding fault with its distribution of tickets to Bills and Sabres games and Wojtaszek failing to reimburse the agency for his use of a car and cell phone provided by OTB.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.

J. Dale Shoemaker