The New York Racing Association notified its employees on Thursday that it will close its three racetracks beginning June 9 if the association does not receive financial assistance from the state, the association said.

The notices are required under state and federal law if a business anticipates shutting down within 60 days. NYRA announced that it had sent the notices at the same time that it is lobbying aggressively for assistance from the state because of claims by association officials that it will run out of money by the beginning of June.

New York's five regional offtrack betting corporations should be allowed to cut payments to the racing industry in order to remain solvent, the state's comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said in an audit released on Thursday.

New York's five regional off-track betting corporations must be allowed to cut their payments to the racing industry in order to remain solvent, the state's comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said in an audit of the corporations released on Thursday.

Magna International Developments, the parent company of Santa Anita's owner Magna Entertainment, has voided its lease agreement with the Oak Tree Racing Association, which hosts an annual fall race meeting at Santa Anita, executives with both organizations said on Friday.

TrackNet, the partnership formed three years ago by Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment Corp. to push up signal prices for their tracks, will be dissolved, the two companies said late Friday.

New York Racing Association officials say they've been told a legislative plan to advance the association $17 million has fallen through, leaving it in danger of running out of money by mid-summer. The money was to be backed by a future bond for the construction of a casino at its Aqueduct racetrack, but the move would violate legal restrictions on how the state can loan money, according to NYRA officials.

The New York Lottery plans to recommend an operator for a casino at Aqueduct by Aug. 3, the lottery said, under a new request for proposals that was issued Tuesday night.

The request for proposals restarts a process that has advanced and receded in fits and starts for nearly nine years with little result aside from generating hostilities among bidders, the racing industry, and politicians. Under the revised schedule, a casino could be up and running at Aqueduct by mid-2011, 10 years after slot machines were legalized at the track.

Youbet.com lost $527,000 in the first quarter of 2010, a $1.3 million swing from the $820,000 profit the company posted in the first quarter of last year, according to financial statements released late Thursday.

Revenue during the quarter was $26 million, a 7.1 percent drop from revenue during last year's first quarter of $28 million. In part, the decline in revenues was related to a 6.7 percent drop in wagering handle through the company's account-wagering platform, from $124 million in last year's first quarter to $115.7 million this year.

Churchill Downs Inc. lost $8.4 million on continuing operations in the first quarter of 2010, according to financial statements released late Monday, compared with a loss of $5.1 million in the first quarter of last year.

Churchill is one of the most financially stable racing companies in the United States, but the company typically operates at a loss in the first quarter because its four racing properties do not conduct live racing operations in the quarter.

Handle on races in the United States declined by 2.5 percent in April compared with the same month last year, according to figures released by Equibase on Tuesday, but the rate of the decline has begun to slow measurably as the nation works its way out of the recession.

Handle fell from $1.028 billion in April last year to $1.002 billion in April of this year, according to the figures. In March, handle fell 6.2 percent, while handle in February fell 13 percent from last year and handle in January fell 12 percent.