Bloomberg vs. Paterson in OTB Showdown

It seemed like Gov. Paterson had managed to cobble together a deal for the State to take over NYC OTB yesterday afternoon and prevent its closing. A state takeover would require a vote by the legislature Monday, but Sheldon Silver and Joseph Bruno both seemed amenable to the idea. Mayor Bloomber, however, is holding fast on his insistence that he is going to close all of the city's OTB parlors tomorrow.

Gov. Paterson said "We have a deal," and told 1,500 OTB workers to show up for work Sunday. They may be showing up at the Governor's instruction, but they may find themselves locked out because Bloomberg has said that he will close the parlors, and he's sticking with that story.

Mayor Bloomberg says that he won't reconsider his position until certain details are worked out regarding substantial legal and economic issues. The Sunday deadline is something that the Mayor invented himself. This could all be a case of political hardball and brinkmanship, but it should be interesting to see how the contradictory orders of two powerful politicians play themselves out tomorrow.