Batavia Downs

Monday's free lunch for veterans at Batavia Downs meant a lot to Blake Leddick, an 11-year U.S. Army veteran, especially with Western Regional OTB President Byron Brown working among the servers.

"Being a vet is more than just putting on a uniform," Leddick said. "It's coming home after we are done serving to support those who support us, and having Batavia Downs here supporting us today, with meeting Mayor Byron Brown serving food, it's an honor. It's an honor for me to see the face of this company willing to take his time out, giving back to us."

On Monday, Veterans Day, Batavia Downs served 350 lunches to veterans from the area.

Press Release:

On the heels of a record-setting weekend, New Batavia Downs President and CEO Byron Brown announced today that Batavia Downs will pay tribute to our veterans with a Veterans Day complimentary meal and drink for those who visit on Monday, November 11.

Batavia Downs anticipates a busy holiday weekend as it will host the Zonta Holiday Festival, an Artisan & Vendor Marketplace, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. This free-admission event will feature various vendors offering unique gifts, crafts, and holiday essentials, perfect for early holiday shopping. 

Sponsored by the Zonta Club of Batavia/Genesee, this annual marketplace brings together local artisans, making it a must-visit event for the community. Guests can also enjoy a visit from Santa Claus on Sunday, November 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., making it an excellent outing for families. To add a touch of excitement, a Buffalo Football Door Prize will be drawn on Sunday.

In honor of Veterans Day, Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel is proud to offer a complimentary menu for veterans inside of Club Bud Light at 34 Rush on Monday, November 11, from 12 to 6 p.m. With a valid military ID, veterans can choose from a special menu, including:

• Boneless Wings: 10 wings with a choice of sauce, served with bleu cheese and fries.
• Rush Burger: 6oz beef patty with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a secret sauce on a Kaiser roll, served with fries.
• Bruschetta Chicken Sandwich: Grilled chicken breast with bruschetta mix, provolone cheese, and balsamic glaze on a Kaiser roll, served with fries.
• Soup & Salad Bar
• Beverage Choice: 12oz domestic draft or soda.

Veterans are invited to relax and enjoy a meal in appreciation of their service.

“Our debt to the brave men and women of our military can never be repaid and should never be forgotten,” said Byron Brown, President and CEO of Batavia Downs. “As the new President and CEO,  I join with our Board of Directors in thanking them for their service to our great country and look forward to seeing them on Veteran's Day at Batavia Downs.”

The previous weekend saw the 3rd highest Coin in day of all time, with handle passing $5.3 Million on Friday, November 1 as Batavia Downs welcomed the Legends and Stars Sports Expo to Batavia Downs. Several current and former Buffalo Football Players signed autographs for hundreds of fans from Western New York that Friday and Saturday. Legends and Stars’ next event is slated to be the weekend of February 21.

It was tailgate time in Park Place at Batavia Downs for Thursday Night Football, with wings and beer, along with other traditional tailgate fare.

The first-time event was a fundraiser for Home Care and Hospice.

Photos by Howard Owens.

It's Legends and Stars Weekend at Batavia Downs, which includes a memorabilia show in the Parks Place Events Center and autograph sessions for several retired sports stars.

The show opened Friday evening and will continue on Saturday.

The new CEO and president of Western Regional Off-Track Betting, Byron Brown, was on hand Friday, mingling with guests and vendors. This visit was documented by a video crew, capturing footage for planned future TV commercials promoting Batavia Downs as an event center.

Here's Saturday's autograph session lineup:

• Mark Recchi, 11:00 – 11:45 a.m.
• Pierre Turgeon, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Brett Hull, 12:00 – 12:45 p.m.
• Scott Norwood, 12:30 – 1:15 p.m.
• Chris Chelios, 1:15 – 2:00 p.m.
• Howard Ballard, 1:45 – 2:00 p.m.
• Bruce Smith, 2:00 – 2:30 p.m.
• Eric Wood, 2:30 – 3:00 p.m.
• Cornelius Bennett, 3:00 – 3:45 p.m.
• Darryl Talley, 3:00 – 3:45 p.m.

For more information and tickets, click here.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel has announced that Celebrity Chef Anne Burrell will be hosting “An Afternoon with Anne Burrell” at Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel in the Park Place Events Center on Sunday, November 24 at 3 p.m.

Attendees will see Chef Anne prepare an entrée, side, and dessert and hear about all the fun she has hosting her hit show Worst Cooks In America on Food Network.  Come see one of America’s favorite chefs!

Following the show, Anne will be hosting a small reception for those with Meet and Greet tickets.  Dinner with the same items Anne demonstrated making will be held at two different seating times (5 p.m. and 7 p.m.) in the Genesee Room upstairs.

Show only tickets are $60, Show and Dinner Tickets are $110 (choose seatings at 5 p.m. or 7 p.m.), Show and Meet and Greet Only are $150, and VIP (show, 7 p.m. dinner & meet and greet) are $200.

Tickets are on sale now at BataviaConcerts.com.

“With the Buffalo Bills on a bye week and Thanksgiving the week after, we thought it would be a perfect time for folks to come see this famous upstate New Yorker, “ said Byron Brown, President & CEO of Batavia Downs.  “I know our patrons will be looking forward to her demonstrating her culinary skills and hearing stories about her time as a TV Star.”

Shortly after the board of directors for the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. approved Steve Casey as the first chief of staff at Batavia Downs on Thursday, his new boss, Byron Brown, reiterated that he had no involvement with Casey getting a job in marketing before Brown was named the new president and CEO of the corporation.

"I did not know he applied for a gaming license," Brown told a gaggle of reporters after Thursday's board meeting. "I did not know he was hired at Batavia Downs prior to me applying for the position.”

Casey's new position was created by an executive reorganization based on recommendations from consultants at True North. The board on Thursday approved a payment of $30,000 to True North for their consulting work.

Based on those recommendations, the board created a new executive organization with the following job titles:

• Chief Executive Officer 
• Chief Administrative Officer/Chief of Staff 
• Chief Operating Officer
• Chief Financial Officer
• Vice-President of Operations
• Vice-President of Business Development
• Vice-President of Human Resources
• Executive Office Manager
• Director of Communications
• Executive Business Administrator

The board eliminated the following job titles:

• Director of Marketing
• Director of Human Resources
• Executive Chef

In addition to Brown as CEO and Casey as Chief of Staff, Ryan Hasenaurer was promoted from marketing director to vice president of business development. Danielle 
Fleming was named VP of Human Resources. Michael J. DeGeorge, who handled communications in the office of Mayor Byron Brown, was named director of communications at a salary of $130,000.

Brown said that based on the reorganization plan, he recommended Casey and DeGeorge for their new positions, which the board approved. Erie County's representative on the board, Timothy Callan, voted against the reorganization measures.

A number of media outlets have mistakenly reported that Brown hired Casey. On Wednesday, outgoing CEO Henry Wojtaszek told The Batavian he hired Casey not long after Casey first contacted him about a job back in May, months before there was an announced plan to replace Wojtaszek. Wojtaszek told Casey he would need to get a gaming license, which he did. Casey started working in marketing at Batavia Downs before the board hired Brown to replace Wojtaszek.

In an exclusive interview with The Batavian on Thursday, Casey confirmed that series of events with some additional details.

At 58, Casey said he started thinking about his retirement and that perhaps he should try to get back into the state's retirement system. While he's never been close with Wojtaszek, he's known him cordially for years, so in May, he decided to give Wojtaszek a call.

Casey said, "I'm thinking, 'Okay, it might be time to get back in. Where would I like to do that?' I think you saw a bit of chaos in Erie County. So I'm thinking, 'Where would a good spot be to go?' I knew Henry. We weren't close, but Henry and I, over the years, crossed paths, and I know him pretty well, so I reached out to Henry. 'Hey, any openings? I'd like to get back in the pension system.'"

Getting a gaming license normally takes weeks. Casey's was approved in about a week. Casey wasn't ready to start that soon so he didn't start working at the casino until September.

One of the issues Erie County reporters have raised regarding Casey is a wire fraud conviction against his former consulting company, LSS Strategies, in 2021. That came after a five-year FBI investigation that resulted in a $69 fine. 

"That application was the most comprehensive document I've ever seen," Casey said. "I literally sat with my attorney, and together, we went through it, answering all the questions, disclosed everything we possibly could so they could then make a decision. And fortunately, they came back and said, there's nothing there.”

Casey said the Gaming Commission was "100% fully informed."

"The most important factor was Steve Casey, as an individual, I don't have a point on my driver's license. I don't have a misdemeanor. I don't have a felony. There's nothing against me as an individual,” he said.

Casey said he didn't learn that Brown was a potential candidate for the job until August or September.

"I've kept in touch with the mayor over the years since I left city government, but when I first came here, it was not based on whether the mayor would come here," Casey said. "He was still in the middle of his budget stuff in May. You're looking at April, May, June. So, my coming here solely had to do with me looking at opportunities for my pension and getting back into government."

Casey is excited, he said, to take on his new role at the OTB and is already impressed by the quality of the people he will be working with.

"I can tell you, I started at the bottom level here," Casey said. "I was seeing everybody on the floor, talking to all the employees here. They didn't know who I was. They didn't know my background. Extremely professional, incredible staff, very talented. 

I'll tell you one specific example," Casey added. "The CFO here. I've worked in Albany, in Albany for nine years and in government for 24 years. I've seen some of the best budget directors you've ever seen, from the speaker's budget director to the governor's budget director. Jackie Leach is by far one of the single most talented CFOs I've ever seen. She knows everything about this place, the institutional knowledge, and her ability to do what she does here. I mean, it's a top-notch staff, and I'm looking forward to working with such a talented staff."

Previously: Information provided by OTB leaders contradicts widely reported accounts of staff hiring at Batavia Downs

Byron Brown had no involvement at all in Steve Casey landing a part-time marketing job at Batavia Downs, said Henry Wojtaszek on Wednesday night.

Wojtaszek is the outgoing president and CEO of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., and Brown, a former five-term mayor of Buffalo, is his successor.

Steve Casey, until 2015, was Brown's deputy mayor.

Multiple media outlets in Erie County and Genesee County reported over the past few days that Brown either hired Casey or implied that Brown was involved in the decision to give Casey a job.

Both Wojtaszek and Brown provided information that contradict those reports.

"I had no influence in hiring Steve Casey at all," Brown told a gaggle of reporters outside a closed committee meeting at Batavia Downs on Wednesday.

Wojtaszek said that while he's not friends with Casey, they've known each other for several years. In May, Wojtaszek said, Casey asked about a job, saying he wanted to get back into the state retirement system. After going through the application process for the job, Casey applied for a state gaming license and received his license about a week later, Wojtaszek said. He started work in late July or early August. Casey received his harness racing license in August.

In late July, the OTB board voted to negotiate a buyout of Wojtaszek's employment contract and announced the formation of an executive search committee.

Board Chairman Dennis Bassett refused to share the names of candidates with reporters throughout the search process, even while there was speculation that Brown was a candidate. Brown said he didn't even consider applying for the job until he learned of Wojtaszek's eventual departure (Wojtaszek's last day is Dec. 31).

Wojtaszek told The Batavian that Bassett even kept the names of candidates from him. He didn't know Brown was a candidate until Brown's name was brought to the board in September for a vote.

Media reports suggest Casey is a controversial hire. In 2015, the FBI launched a five-year investigation into an allegation that he stole funds from one of his political consultant candidates, Charles Swanick. The result of the investigation? A conviction for wire fraud with no jail time and no probation. He was ordered to pay a $69 fine and fork over $8,283.59 in restitution. The crux of the dispute, according to a report by WGRZ: Swanick thought Casey had agreed to work for free.

Asked about the conviction on Wednesday, Brown defended Casey's employment at Batavia Downs.

"When you look at Steve Casey's actual record, he has no record, so there is no prohibition to him being able to work here, as I understand it," Brown said. "He was hired prior to me being hired, and he has a gaming license, which I understand he got before me getting one."

Pressed to discuss the conviction, Brown said the issue is more complex than sound bites can convey.

"Again, I'm not going to go into those details in a sound-bite fashion," Brown said. "It would be unfair to that individual. There's a lot more to it than that. I don't think it would be fair for me to try to discuss in, you know, a 20-second soundbite." 

For those questioning whether Wojtaszek, a Republican, would hire Casey, a Democrat, Wojtaszek said party affiliation is not part of the hiring process.

"Honestly, I can tell you this -- I mean, I know Steve is kind of a high-profile guy -- but I have no idea what the political affiliation is of the people we hire," Wojtaszek said. "I have no idea."

He said that outside of one staff member Wojtaszek has known for years, he never talks politics with his staff.  

"I have no idea what they're registered," he added. "I believe that this organization is not a political organization. That's why I love Dennis (Bassett). He's like, 'I'm a Democrat. That's my ideology. But when I come here, we don't, we don't discuss that.' He says, 'I know where you come from. You know where I come from, but let's work through this thing.'"

Brown told reporters on Wednesday that he has no idea what future position Casey might hold at Batavia Downs. There was no promotion or switch to full-time proposal before the board at Wednesdays meeting.

"As I move forward, I would certainly consider him for a position," Brown said.

Previously: Reports of Byron Brown hiring former staffer are incorrect

In an effort to fulfill his vow for “transparency,” newly hired CEO Byron Brown released copies of his employment contract with Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation to members of the press before committee meetings Wednesday, revealing his three-tiered salary increases, a four-month severance provision and other benefits of the job he began just a week ago at Batavia Downs.

The former Buffalo mayor’s annual six-figure base salary begins at $295,000 through 2025 and is set to jump to $305,000 on Jan. 1, 2026, and increase another $10,000 in 2027 to $315,000, “contingent upon continued growth and a satisfactory performance evaluation.” 

“Before I even signed the contract, I knew there was a lot of media interest in the contract. I had been informed that a number of members of the media had requested the contract and that the contract was FOILed. It was my understanding, through the corporation, that through FOIL, the contract would have been released on October 31, but I thought, you know, as we talk about transparency, it was important for me to release the contract today, my first board meeting,” Brown said. 

“You know, obviously, we are in something of a transition," he added. "Some of the decisions that are being discussed today, work that has been assembled today predated me, so as I transition in, I wanted to transition into the organization with transparency, and wanted to provide the contract to the media so that it could be seen and you could evaluate it."

Unlike former employees who have received year-long severance packages, Brown’s is cut off at four months, which was a condition he purposefully chose in working with Board Chairman Dennis Bassett, he said.

“We decided that I would not take that type of severance provision … Again, we thought that that was an important and meaningful reform with me coming in, and I was happy to agree with the chairman to reduce the severance that employees have previously enjoyed,” Brown said, answering why he agreed to a reduced severance length. “I want to start with transparency, want to start looking at potential reforms for the organization. Good work is being done here. This is a very profitable organization that delivers revenue to 17 municipalities in Western New York. I want to work to establish confidence in the organization. So I thought changing that provision and reducing the severance provision in the contract was important for me to do.”

The contract includes a minimum of two weeks paid vacation per year; an $800 monthly car allowance in lieu of any direct payments for expense of leasing or operation of a vehicle; and reimbursements for “necessary and reasonable business expenses incurred in the performance of his duties.”

Brown’s contract allows him to participate in employee benefit plans and programs, including but not limited to medical, retirement and life insurance, as are generally made available by the employer to employees.

The severance package also would include continued medical benefits or a $1,500 annual stipend for choosing not to use the medical benefits.  

His list of duties and responsibilities includes:

• The overall direction, development and day-to-day management of the employer — the gaming operations and hotel, food and beverage, and other gaming-related amenities; and management of vendors, consultants and employees, including the right to select, assign and terminate such individuals and entities and the implementation of personnel and wage and benefit policies established by the board;
• Preparation of annual operating and capital budgets of the employer and of required modifications to budgets, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of such budgets in the course of operations;
• Development and implementation of programs for training of employees and development of policies and procedures;
• Diligent attention to ensuring the compliance of operations with the requirement of the state Gaming Commission and other applicable laws relating to the integrity and operations of employers and maintenance of the integrity of all operations for the protection of the employers, its patrons and the public;
• Assistance in the development of strategic plans and preparation of related proformas for the expansion of the employer and of required modifications to such proformas;
• Overall direction, development and day-to-day management of the process to market, sell and account for the employer’s products and services and for developing, implementing, monitoring and adopting measures to improve customer service;
• Negotiate agreements on behalf of the employer consistent with the policies, and negotiate employment offers for management of the employer, both subject to board approval when required by employer policy;
• Lead the interaction with federal, state and local governments, including legislative bodies, and participate as the employer’s representative to the New York Gaming Association, and serve as trustee to the Employer’s Deferred Compensation Plan.

The annual salaries are listed as minimum base salaries, and will be up for review at the end of each fiscal year. The board may determine, in its sole discretion, to increase the executive’s base salary, the contract states. Brown is happy with the package, he said, which includes those "performance based incentives."

“I am certainly pleased with the contract the board has offered. We did not do a lot of negotiation, very little,” he said. “In fact, I was presented a contract for employment and found it certainly satisfactory to me and accepted it.” 

Expanding the Batavia Downs Hotel seems like a good idea to Byron Brown, who discussed the idea in his first board meeting on Wednesday since starting his new position as president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting.

"The board has started looking at expanding the hotel, certainly predating me," said Brown. "I have been in a number of briefings on the hotel; there are several outside consultants and expert entities who have been hired to help the board evaluate the potential of expanding the hotel. From what I have been able to see and review, it looks like it makes sense to me."

Brown did not disclose any specifics on the proposals the board is reviewing. Wednesday's discussion took place behind closed doors. Brown said the expansion would take place on the current Batavia Downs property. The board has not discussed purchasing additional property he said.

"A lot of questions came up in the executive session that the board went into to discuss the hotel," Brown said. "I thought the questions were right on target, and I think the board will make a sound decision about whether to expand the hotel or not to expand the hotel."

After Kmart closed in 2018, WROTB attempted to purchase the property but lost out to Benderson Development. While Benderson built space and leased it to three franchise operations, the main Kmart building remains vacant. Brown said he has not heard any talk of WROTB attempting again to purchase the property.

The 84-room luxury hotel opened in 2016. It was originally constructed and operated by ADK Hospitality, a Buffalo-based company. It costs ADK $5.4 million to build the hotel. The OTB purchased the hotel in 2021 for $8 million.

The purchase, Brown said, "has led to this corporation becoming a lot more profitable. So purchasing the hotel in the first place was a very good decision. From my perspective, just being able to evaluate this during the week that I've been here, I think expanding would be a good decision as well. But again, I don't want to try to speak for the board."