57 Search Results for batavia downs

Mar 29

2024

OTB considering hotel expansion at Batavia Downs

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The board of directors for Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. agreed on Thursday to hire two companies to help explore the possible expansion of the 84-room hotel at Batavia Downs in Genesee County.  Approval of the agreements came over the objection of one board director — Erie County’s representative Tim Callan,  who said he still has questions about how management arrived at the two vendors chosen to do the work.  “Management did not answer my questions to my satisfaction,” Callan said following Thursday’s meeting.  The board, minus Callan, authorized one contract for $76,000 with Bammel Architects, an Orchard Park firm[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Mar 5

2025

Reforms, at last, at OTB

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OTB boss Byron Brown speaks to reporters at Batavia Downs. Photo by Garrett Looker. After years of scandal and critical audits, the governing board of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has agreed in principle to a slate of reforms that address some longstanding criticisms of the agency.  The course correction includes capping severance pay and travel expenses, putting more contracts out to bid, and tighter monitoring of promotional giveaways.  Also under consideration is whether OTB will purchase a suite at the new Buffalo Bills stadium. Not under consideration is termination of health insurance provided to OTB’s chairman and 23[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jan 27

2025

Comptroller to audit OTB again

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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.[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Dec 24

2024

OTB accuses whistleblower of ‘public smear campaign’

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Western Regional Off-Track Betting’s Batavia Downs. Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp has filed a counterclaim against a former executive turned whistleblower who maintains he was fired after he agreed to cooperate with investigations into alleged wrongdoing at the public benefit corporation. OTB’s counterclaim, filed Nov. 27, alleges that former Chief Operating Officer Michael Nolan breached his “fiduciary duty and duties of loyalty and confidentiality” to the organization while engaging in a “public smear campaign” designed to draw negative attention to WROTB and its outgoing CEO and President Henry Wojtaszek. The countersuit accuses Nolan of conspiring with his attorney, Steve Cohen,[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Dec 17

2024

Departing OTB chief splurged on travel

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Henry Wojtaszek is going out in style. The departing president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. traveled grandly during his final year on the job, records show.  Consider:  A three-night stay at a swanky hotel on the Las Vegas Strip at a cost of $3,300.  A $1,600 tab — dinner for five — at a top-rated Las Vegas steakhouse owned by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck during that same trip.  An August trip to Saratoga Springs that included a $2,420 tab — dinner for nine — at a farm-to-table steakhouse. And an overnight stay at a four-star New York[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Dec 11

2024

Prospect of more scrutiny for OTB

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Batavia Downs, the flagship of Western Regional OTB. Photo by Garrett Looker. Two state authorities appear to be eyeing probes into the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., Investigative Post has learned. The Inspector General, responding to a request from two state lawmakers, has obtained documents including buyout deals for Henry Wojtaszek, OTB’s outgoing  president and CEO, and two of his top lieutenants. The Inspector General’s office would neither confirm nor deny whether the records request has progressed into a formal investigation. In addition, the state comptroller is considering a request from Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick for a “performance and[...]

Posted 4 months ago

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[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Nov 21

2024

OTB hotel expansion delayed

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Hotel at Batavia Downs. Photo by Garrett Looker A 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[...]

Posted 5 months ago