OTB, as it was known in New York, allowed people to place legal bets on horse racing. These stores were gritty, dirty, and seedy. Now, they will be shut down, for good. One patron of OTB was not pleased:

“It’s terrible,” said John Grassley, 77, a retired postal worker who said he had been an OTB bettor since it began. “I thought they would solve it at the last minute. They ought to privatize it, or turn it over to the Gambinos. Government can’t run anything.”

Amen.