OTB Sneak Peek

The untold story of OTB, New York’s lost billion dollar bookie

WINNER BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival • Workers Unite! Film Festival
Great Western Catskills International Film Festival • Cinema New York

For nearly 40 years Off-Track Betting was New York’s legal bookie –
the only legal place you could bet on horse races outside of the track.

At its height, OTB operated over a hundred storefront betting parlors, collected billions in bets, and employed 1,000 unionized workers.

But in 2010, New York City’s OTB was shuttered in bankruptcy. Workers lost their jobs and health care, fans lost their betting outlet, and the city lost an important street icon.

Off-Track Betting was a uniquely NYC institution, but its closure is an American story.

We are proud to share the story of New York’s OTB on its 50th anniversary.

#otb50 @OTBDoc

.

“Finish Line: The Rise and Demise of Off-Track Betting”
Written, Narrated, and Directed by Joseph Fusco
Photographed by Matthew W. Flannery
Music by Stephen Cullo
Produced by Joseph Fusco and Matthew W. Flannery
with Eric Adams • Jimmy Breslin • Hazel Dukes • Luc Sante
Producer Julianne Donofrio
Producer Adam Glass
Consulting Producer Rebecca Brillhart
Associate Producers Tian DeSeta • Ann Bacon
Graphics Mark Rizzo

© 2020 Joseph Fusco

Share on: