BATAVIA - It was the annual Legislative Night at Batavia Downs Gaming and Hotel and Byron Brown, president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting, was waiting just outside the track to pose for a photo with the winner of the evening's first race.
Brown served nearly 19 years as Buffalo mayor, longer than anyone who held the office before him, when he made the surprising decision to resign last fall to take the OTB position.
That night, after the trumpets of "Call to the Post" played over the public address system, as the track announcer introduced the riders and their horses to the crowd, a visitor asked Brown how long it took him to fully transition from running the city to managing the gaming organization.
"When I walked out of City Hall that last time, I moved on," Brown said before striding into the winner's circle to congratulate Brett Beckwith, who rode Ramapo CCL to victory.
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Brown might have moved on, but the candidates running in June's Democratic primary election to replace him hadn't. Several said Brown's administration engaged in irresponsible budget policies, leaving the city in a deep hole that will take years to fill.
Brown, in an interview, defended his long tenure as mayor but said he picked the right time to shift to the far less stressful, and more lucrative, position of OTB chief.
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OTB data show casino revenue is up, meaning the organization is sending larger payments to Buffalo, Rochester and the 15 counties it serves.
His hiring came with OTB under intense scrutiny for its "culture of corruption," as one critic put it, and demands for change had grown louder.
Brown and his allies point to several reforms taken this year, including limits on OTB spending on severance and travel expenses for administrators, though others say more is needed.
"I'm pleased with the steps that OTB has taken, and the new direction of their leadership," said State Sen. Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, and the Democratic nominee for Buffalo mayor in this fall's election. "I hope that they continue to make these changes, to make OTB as transparent as possible and to change the culture that OTB is there to serve certain connected people and not the public."
'Reform agenda' passed
Brown, now 66, won re-election in 2021 as a write-in candidate to an unprecedented fifth term as mayor, but by 2024, rumors circulated that he was eyeing an early exit. That summer, attention focused on Western Regional OTB, whose president and CEO, Henry Wojtaszek, announced he would step down at the end of the year.
Byron Brown to resign as Buffalo's longest-serving mayor to take OTB job
Byron Brown, the city's first and only Black mayor, whose 19 years on the job is the longest in the city's history, ended months of speculation when he announced during a news conference Monday that he will leave City Hall to become president and chief executive officer of Western Regional Off-Track Betting.
Wojtaszek's departure came after Democrat-led changes gave members from heavily populated Democratic communities more power on the OTB board. An influential Niagara County Republican, Wojtaszek was out and Brown, a former state Democratic Party chair, was appointed to replace him.
Last October, Brown stepped into the top job at OTB, which operates the Batavia Downs hotel, video gaming casino floor and live harness horse racing, as well as off-site betting parlors. Its board is made up of representatives from the cities of Buffalo and Rochester and each of 17 counties in the region.
Since taking office 11 months ago, Brown persuaded the OTB board to approve two rounds of what he called his "reform agenda." The changes include stricter oversight of employee travel expenses and merit raises and a decision to pay for individual tickets, instead of a suite, at the new Highmark Stadium.
In a major shift, the board agreed to limit future severance payments to outgoing executives and other employees. Wojtaszek and two other senior OTB officials received more than $500,000 combined when they left last year, while Brown will receive four months' pay, not 12 months, in any future buyout.
Ryan and other Democratic lawmakers had blasted the payments and Ryan had urged Brown to rescind them when he took over OTB, a move Brown did not make.
"I'm an employee, not a board member," Brown said. "The board had already made that decision. It was clear that the board was not going to alter decisions that had already been made."
Further progress sought
Wojtaszek earned $299,000 annually as president and CEO.
The board agreed to pay Brown $295,000 upon his hiring, far more than the $178,500 he earned as mayor, and he's already received a 3% raise, bringing his salary to nearly $304,000, as first reported by Investigative Post. Brown is in line to earn $10,000 raises in the second and third years of his contract.
"The board made an offer, and I accepted the offer," Brown said. "So I believe the board of directors thought I deserved what they gave me."
Timothy Callan, Erie County's board representative, said he's glad to see some reform steps taken, such as recording board meetings, but he wants more done, including release of resolutions and documents well in advance instead of leaving members "ambushed" at the start of the monthly meetings.
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"I'm waiting to see further progress on some of these measures," Callan said.
He also noted the state Comptroller's Office is finishing up an audit of OTB finances and operations.
John Kaehny, executive director of the Reinvent Albany government watchdog group, isn't impressed.
"Byron Brown is only the latest and most blatant example of why Western OTB should not be a public authority. New York City got rid of its OTB decades ago and its economy and tax revenue has done just fine without it," Kaehny said in an email. "Western OTB is a symbol of corruption and decay and Buffalo and Western NY would be better off without it."
Predecessor eyes OTB return
At Legislative Night in late August, Brown touted the organization's accomplishments this year.
He was introduced by OTB Board Chair Dennis Bassett, who said, "Glad we stole him from the City of Buffalo."
Brown said gaming-floor revenue was up 1.8%, or $12.4 million, between the first seven months of 2025 and the same period last year. The amount the OTB distributes to its member municipalities is projected to rise from $6.7 million last year to $10 million in 2025.
State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, initially expressed concern over the effect Brown's arrival could have on the agency's finances. Last week, Borrello said, "It's still early, however, I would say that he's off to a great start."
In one key change, Brown and other OTB representatives lobbied extensively in Albany to persuade lawmakers to support lowering the agency's gaming tax rate from 49% to 44%. This change should let OTB keep an extra $5.5 million per year to boost employee pay and benefits and to distribute to its cities and counties.
Controversial ex-CEO Wojtaszek wants to return to Western Regional OTB as a board member
The former Niagara County Republican chair appears poised to fill the OTB board vacancy created when the county's representative, Elliott Winter, resigned last week.
There is a new wrinkle: His predecessor wants to come back to the agency as a board member, filling a vacancy.
Wojtaszek told The News he's not interested in his old job and he had praise for his successor's performance. But it creates a potentially awkward situation for Brown.
"I imagine it would be a little uncomfortable for him, but I don't see that it will be anything, necessarily, that he can't handle," said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo.
An official with the union that represents rank-and-file OTB employees said her members have a much better working relationship with Brown than they had with Wojtaszek, who, she said, treated the union like "the enemy."
"It's not going to be an easy street, but at least the relationship is not us against them," said Antonella Rotilio, labor relations representative with the United Public Service Employees Union.
'A lot less stress'
After speaking at Legislative Night, Brown walked into the grandstand and restaurant where guests watch the harness races. Along the way, he introduced himself to patrons or they stopped him to say hello.
"We miss you," one racing fan, a Buffalo resident, said to Brown.
He said he enjoys the encounters, and the job - even with the daily commute from Buffalo to Batavia.
"In a week, I'll talk to hundreds of people that come here," Brown said. "They don't really expect to win money. What they expect is to be treated well and to have a good time."
Brown said people regularly quote back to him the tagline from the Batavia Downs TV commercials he records: "We don't want you to like coming here, we want you to love coming here."
He insisted there's little he misses about the job of mayor.
Asked to respond to criticism of his mayoralty, and the financial state he left the city in, Brown said he didn't pay close attention to the primary candidates' comments.
"What I would say to people is, there were always financial challenges from Day One. There were always issues," Brown said. "I always had a plan with my management team, and we always figured it out."
Instead, he said from a table overlooking the racetrack on a late summer evening, he's happy to be free of the pressures of City Hall.
"I'm having fun. I'm enjoying it. It's a lot less stress than being the mayor of a midsize American city," Brown said. "You know, people don't realize, but that is truly a 24/7 job. The phone never stopped ringing. This is different than that."
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