Catskill OTB accounts migrated to Suffolk OTB

The New York State Gaming Commission has approved a plan to migrate Catskill OTB’s existing wagering accounts to Suffolk OTB, commission officials said at a meeting on Monday.

The approval came after Catskill OTB, a small public-benefit company serving the Hudson Valley, announced in mid-October that it planned to cease taking wagers as of Dec. 1 and would allow existing Catskill OTB account holders to “access” their accounts until Dec. 15.

Robert Williams, the executive director of the commission, said at the Monday meeting that Catskill had approximately 1,000 accounts still open at the time the migration was approved.

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Under the plan, Catskill will retain 50 percent of the “net proceeds” from wagering through the migrated accounts, Williams said. Suffolk OTB controls off-track betting in counties on Long Island.

Catskill OTB, like other public OTB companies in New York, has struggled for the past two decades due to the emergence of remote betting and declines in horseracing’s market share. At the time of its announcement, the company operated a handful of betting kiosks at Hudson Valley restaurants while also taking bets through its account-wagering operation.

Williams said that Catskill OTB has filed simulcasting applications for the 2025 calendar year but the commission has not yet acted on the applications as it awaits further word on the company’s plans for next year. While company officials initially indicated that Catskill would be completely shut down, “they have also backtracked a bit” on those plans, Williams said, as they pursue help through the state legislature.

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