NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone is calling for an investigation into the Suffolk County Off-Track Betting’s $120 million purchase of a Long Island casino.
OTB, a public benefit corporation, purchased the rights to own and operate Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel from operator Delaware North earlier this year, raising concerns from officials like Bellone who said the deal involving the popular casino went through a county review.
Bellone on Saturday announced he penned a letter to the state Legislature requesting a formal investigation into the transaction, citing the close connections between Delaware North and Gov. Kathy Hochul, the New York Post first reported.
Hochul’s husband, William, is Delaware North’s senior vice president and general counsel.
“I am asking @NYSenate and @NYSA_Majority to conduct an investigation into Suffolk OTB,” Bellone, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter. “Public agencies must be transparent when dealing with taxpayer dollars, yet OTB is operating under a shroud of secrecy.”
Bellone said more oversight is needed to ensure the successful Islandia casino doesn’t become a patronage mill.
“Now without the oversight and management of a professional casino operator, Jake’s 58 Hotel and Casino, where hundreds of millions are wagered through its doors each month, is poised to become one of the largest political patronage operations in the State, if not the country,” Bellone wrote in the letter.
“At minimum, these troublesome actions are a signal of fiscal impropriety – and perhaps much worse,” he added.
Hochul’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Suffolk OTB President and CEO Jim LaCarrubba defended the deal to the Post, calling it “great.”
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