Corbin Off-Track Betting parlor to close for good in June

Corbin’s Off-Track Betting parlor will be one of three to close this summer statewide following the running of the Belmont Stakes in June.

Officials with Off-Track Betting — which is owned by Kentucky racetracks Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Ellis Park and Turfway Park — announced the decision this week. Possible closure of the betting parlors in Corbin, Jamestown and Maysville. A similar parlor in Pineville was closed in 2010.

The decision to close the facilities comes after officials say business at the parlors has sharply declined. Officials say the overall handle has dropped from $25.7 million a decade ago to just $10 million in 2012.

Corbin was the first community in which Kentucky Off-Track Betting started a betting site. It was formerly located in the Holiday Inn in south Corbin, now occupied by Mountain View Lodge, before moving to its new site across the road.

Off-Track Betting did not come to Corbin without controversy. Members of the city’s five-member Board of Commissioners faced withering opposition to the idea in 1993, but decided to take no action that would prevent the facility to locate in the city. Opponents argued it would bring with it problems related to drug abuse, alcohol abuse and prostitution.

By law, OTB facilities must give one percent of all wagers directly to the cities and counties in which they are located. Locally, the city of Corbin gets .75 percent of each betting dollar and Whitley County gets the other .25 percent. The city received about $40,000 in OTB funds last year. The money is used to help fund the Corbin Economic Development Agency.

About 20 employees will be affected by the decision to close the facilities.