Sep 23
2025
Resistance mounts to Wojtaszek’s OTB return
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Henry Wojtaszek, former OTB president and CEO. Photo by Dale Shoemaker.
Henry Wojtaszek’s first meeting as a director of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. isn’t even in the books yet, but his return to the agency he once ran is already facing resistance.
The latest salvo is a Sept. 18 letter from Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera to the New York State Gaming Commission, urging that body to withhold a gaming license from Wojtaszek.
His tenure at OTB, the lawmakers wrote, was “marred by labor violations, harassment settlements, fiscal mismanagement, and investigations,” meaning Wojtaszek “is, by definition, not a suitable candidate for licensure.”
Letter sent by Peoples-Stokes and Rivera.
“His return to the Board of Directors would not only disregard the lived experiences of those harmed under his leadership but would also undermine public confidence in the Gaming Commission’s oversight of one of our region’s most visible public benefit corporations,” the letter reads.
“Such an appointment risks signaling that misconduct, abuse, and mismanagement carry no real consequences in New York State.”
That missive from the lawmakers follows two other letters warning the OTB board and area lawmakers of Wojtaszek’s return.
First, in early September, a union representative for OTB employees wrote to the board and the delegation of state lawmakers representing the counties and cities that own the agency.
Antonella Rotilio, who represents hundreds of OTB workers via the United Public Service Employee Union, wrote that Wojtaszek’s tenure was marked by “one controversy after another … stemming from a pattern of backdoor deals and unilateral decision-making that undermined the rules and accountability expected of this public benefit corporation.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomShe said employees were treated as an afterthought under his administration and that OTB branch locations were closed — and those workers fired — with little notice. She said Byron Brown, the new president and CEO, has treated employees better. The union and OTB recently ratified a new contract that secured the workers a 3 percent raise.
“As the representative of hundreds of employees, I must emphasize how damaging it would be to bring Mr. Wojtaszek back into leadership,” Rotilio wrote. “It raises fundamental questions of accountability, priorities, and respect, not just for the workforce, but for the public you represent.”
Then, on Sept. 3, four longtime female employees penned a letter to the board of directors warning of Wojtaszek’s return. Some of them, the letter read, had filed internal complaints about the former president and CEO during his tenure.
“This corporation was filled with lawsuits, negative press, nasty and vindictive leaders and they used the Corporation as their own piggy bank,” the women wrote of Wojtaszek’s nine-year tenure as OTB’s president and CEO. “They did whatever they wanted.”
One of the women, in an interview, said working under Wojtaszek was a “struggle” and that the women wanted to do “anything to stop him.” Two of the other signatories echoed those sentiments.
The women, fearing “retribution” from Wojtaszek, expressed dismay that a member of the board of directors shared a copy of their letter with him and asked that their names not be published.
“You struggle,” the one woman said of her years working under Wojtaszek. “Because that’s when you say, ‘I have to go to work, not that I want to go to work.’”
The women said Brown’s tenure so far has brought “fresh air” and “respect.”
“Those two things are huge,” she said.
It’s unclear if the backlash to Wojtaszek’s appointment will have any effect. Wojtaszek currently holds a “track management” license that expires in December. A gaming commission spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether he would need additional approval to become a full voting member of the board. Should he need additional licensure, it is unclear if he would face any obstacles in obtaining it, as Rivera and Peoples-Stokes suggested he ought to. The OTB board of directors is set to meet next on Wednesday and Thursday.
Wojtaszek left a job at the Lippes Mathias law firm to pursue the board seat at OTB. Two sources said that once Wojtaszek made known in August his desire to return to OTB, leadership at Lippes Mathias gave him an ultimatum: his job or the board seat. Wojtaszek walked away from the firm — and a six-figure job — effective Sept. 2.
Publicly, Wojtaszek has said he wants to give back to a public agency that treated him well over a 14-year career and gave him a nearly $300,000 contract buyout when he left. In remarks last week to the Niagara County Legislature — the body that appointed him to the OTB board – he said it was common in corporate America for an executive to step down and then join a company’s board.
“I had an outstanding career,” he told the lawmakers. “I want to pay it forward and I want to look out for Niagara County.”
Wojtaszek refused to speak to Investigative Post at last week’s meeting and did not return a phone call and email seeking comment for this story.
Wojtaszek’s comes as the New York State comptroller prepares to release an audit that is said to be critical of his OTB tenure. The report is due out before the end of the year. A spokesperson for state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the audit is “ongoing” and declined to say when it will be released.
Covering “three to five” recent years, the audit will examine “the financial operations” of OTB, DiNapoli’s office has said previously. The report is now in draft form, sources told Investigative Post.
Brown and his leadership team have cooperated with DiNapoli’s staff as they’ve conducted the audit. At the same time, Brown and Casey have issued two “reform agendas” that put new rules in place for raises, executive travel, use of a Buffalo Bills suite the agency purchases, contract procurement and more.
