The rule was "early surrender", and it was a nice rule indeed. That rule also required learning some special variations on routine play. But if you played correctly, the rule was worth an extra 0.7% compared to rules without surrender*. That might not sound by much, but it's about like hearing that a track is going to add to the pool instead of having a takeout. You actually had a small edge in AC even without card counting, assuming you knew basic strategy.

--Dunbar

* It was worth 0.7% to a non-counter. To a counter it was worth a good bit more.

That's right, early surrender. My bad memory should be forgiven. It was over twenty years ago and, as I said above, my brain cells were under regular assault at that time.

http://senatorbilllarkin.com/39/Contact.aspx

Bill Larkin is the chairman Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering for the NY state senate

http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=087&sh=con

J. Gary Pretlow is Chairman of the Aseembly Committee on Racing and Wagering for the NY State Assembly

These two politicians are chairman but anyone who has any knowledge of how NY state government works knows all legislation is passed or vetoed by "The Three Men in a Room".

These NYCOTB rumors are outrageous. But since NY state government is involved the worst possible outcome will likely occur. It wouldn't hurt to contact these two guys to let them know how you feel on this topic. My gut feeling is these guys look down upon horseplayers as degenerates and look at racing as a vehicle to award friends favors. I could be wrong but I've seen enough from this states politicians that I'm completely cynical about anything involving NY state government.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/...it__mayor.html

Bloomberg offers state NYC-OTB... Looks more and more like it may fold into NYRA, which obviously could start to tip the scales toward a consolidation of the entire state-wide operation.

In a state where every hare-brained scheme seems like it designed to destroy racing, this would be almost too good to be true. Let's hope this is the blind squirrel finding the nut.

From the Associated Press:


ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- With private talks failing to resolve
difficult issues, Gov. David Paterson says the state may take over
the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp.
The Democrat says he's unsure the negotiations will result in a
deal to keep the OTB operating before a mid-June deadline to shut
it down.
But Paterson says there is no option he won't explore to
preserve the revenue OTB can produce for government and the horse
racing industry as well as the OTB jobs that are at stake.
The directors of the financially troubled OTB have called for
the nearly 40-year-old gambling operation to close. That would
leave about 1,500 employees looking for work.

"I for the life of me can't understand what the state is thinking about, of giving it to NYRA," the mayor said. "But that's up to them, that's not up to us. All I care about is I'm telling you again we will not subsidize a bookie operation with one penny of city dollars."

And you call yourself a BUSINESSMAN?!?!?

Mayor, if someone offered you Reuters to complement Bloomberg for FREE, under the auspices that you take over operations, you would say NO???

From the Times-Union's Capitol Confidential:

TV reporting state takeover of OTB deal
June 13, 2008 at 12:46 pm by Irene Jay Liu

NYC’s WNBC Channel 4 is reporting that the state leaders have reached a deal for a state takeover of the city’s Off-Track Betting.

State calls Bloomy bluff, gloms OTB; Takeout up 1%
 

http://news.bloodhorse.com/article/45718.htm
By Tom Precious, B-H

Negotiators in New York the afternoon of June 13 were putting the final touches on legislation in which the state would take control of the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., thereby averting a shutdown of the city’s betting operations for the weekend.

A deal could be announced later in the afternoon, though staffs representing Gov. David Paterson, the legislature, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg were holding one last negotiating session at the Capitol. Paterson had scheduled a 3 p.m. EDT news conference to discuss the NYCOTB situation.

If the pending deal does not blow up, the state would take over NYCOTB in about 90 days. It also calls for a 1% increase in the pari-mutuel takeout on wagers.

NY state will take over New York City's OTB
 

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ne...,5982236.story

The State of NY will take over NYCOTB according to this Newsday article. I like this development because the status quo is being changed. Hopefully this could lead to a merger of NYCOTB and the franchise holder NYRA.