Tag: OTB

Nov 22

2024

OTB cuts payments to local governments

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Pay raises and buyouts for executives are among the costs blamed for the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. reducing its payments to local governments by $2.6 million this year.In 2023, OTB leaders said Thursday, the agency sent $10.25 million to the 15 counties and two cities that own it. This year, that amount decreased to $7.6 million.OTB did not specify how much the reduced payments will cost individual local governments. Erie County will be out an estimated $200,000.Officials did not fully explain the reduction Thursday, but cited personnel, legal and development costs.The drop follows a number of personnel expenses incurred[...]

Posted 19 hours ago

Nov 21

2024

OTB hotel expansion delayed

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Hotel at Batavia Downs. Photo by Garrett LookerA planned expansion of the Batavia Downs hotel is on hold, possibly for as much as a year, officials with Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. announced Thursday.Outgoing CEO Henry Wojtaszek said the agency put the 73-room addition on pause after two estimates solicited from Buffalo-based developers came in above expectations. The pause could last six months to a year, he said.According to Wojtaszek, both The Krog Group and Ciminelli Real Estate estimated the project would cost around $16 million. Both offers were far above what the agency had hoped to spend on the[...]

Posted 1 day ago

Oct 31

2024

Whistleblower suit against OTB going forward

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Batavia Downs. Photo by Garrett Looker.A lawsuit filed by a former Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. executive – who claims he was fired for cooperating with state and federal investigators examining the operation – is moving forward.In a ruling issued last week, U.S. District Court Judge William Skretny dismissed several claims, narrowing the scope of a lawsuit filed in August 2021 by OTB’s former chief operating officer, Michael Nolan. But Skretny denied a request from OTB to toss what Nolan’s attorney described as the “most important” causes of action in the lawsuit.Barring an appeal, Skretny’s ruling clears the way for[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Oct 24

2024

OTB hires two Brown lieutenants from City Hall

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Byron Brown answers questions from reporters at Thursday’s OTB meeting. Photo by Garrett Looker.Steven Casey, a longtime aide to Byron Brown and a political operative whose consulting firm pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2021, was hired Thursday as the former mayor’s right-hand man at the Western Regional Off-Track Betting.The OTB board voted to hire Casey for one year as chief administrative officer and chief of staff under Brown, OTB’s new president and CEO. Casey will be paid $190,000. OTB will retain Scott Kiedrowski, OTB’s current No. 2, who is named in a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and wage theft.[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Oct 23

2024

Brown’s OTB contract could rise to $315,000 in 2027

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Outgoing OTB CEO Henry Wojtaszek, left, recently appointed CEO Byron Brown, center, and attorney Rajat Shah. Photo by Mark Scheer.Former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has the chance to boost his annual salary of $295,000 by another $20,000 within two years as the new CEO and president of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.At the start of Wednesday’s OTB board of directors meeting — the first attended by Brown since he resigned as mayor to head the public gambling agency — Brown released a copy of his employment contract.The three-year contract will, as has been previously reported, pay Brown a base salary[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 22

2024

Poloncarz blasts Brown for hiring Steve Casey at OTB

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The elected official with the greatest sway over Western Regional Off-Track Betting is “incredibly disappointed” that former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has brought a controversial former deputy with him to his new post as head of the troubled public gambling corporation.“Former Mayor Brown committed to the Board of Directors that he would move Western Region OTB towards transparency and accountability,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a statement to Investigative Post.Hiring Steven M. Casey — “an incredibly toxic force in Buffalo City Hall for decades,” according to Poloncarz — “moves Western Region OTB in the complete opposite direction,” he[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 20

2024

Brown brings long-time aide Steve Casey to OTB

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Steven Casey, left, and Byron Brown, right. File photo by WKBW.Steven M. Casey — Byron Brown’s former deputy mayor and top political advisor — is following his old boss to a job at Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.A source close to OTB leadership confirmed Casey, 58, is now working for the publicly owned gambling corporation and is on-site at Batavia Downs. The state comptroller’s office confirmed Casey began working part-time for OTB in September. OTB did not report a job title to the comptroller but projected his annual part-time wages would total $49,920.Casey — whose company pleaded guilty three years[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Oct 3

2024

Lifetime health insurance for OTB’s departing Wojtaszek

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When Henry Wojtaszek, the president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., steps down at the end of the year, he’ll take a gold-plated health insurance plan with him.The plan features no deductibles, a $25 copay for doctor, specialist and testing visits and drug copays between $5 and $40.Wojtaszek, according to the buyout agreement obtained by Investigative Post, can participate in one of two plans beginning Jan. 1. Wojtaszek’s employment contract states both he and his family can participate in the insurance plan.The buyout agreement lists no date for when Wojtaszek’s ability to use the health insurance would end.“That[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post