BUFFALO, N.Y. — For months now, the Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. has refused to release the names of people who attended Bills and Sabres games in luxury suites it leases from the teams. Thursday, the OTB relented and released 201 documents that claim to identify ticket recipients.
OTB acted in the face of a threatened lawsuit from the Niagara Gazette, which, along with Investigative Post, filed Freedom of Information requests this spring that were subsequently denied.
OTB officials contended that release of names would represent an invasion of privacy of ticket recipients. Officials from the state Committee on Open Government disagreed, but the OTB refused to budge until lawyers from Greenberg Traurig, retained by the Gazette, made clear their intention to sue. For more on this story, visit the Investigative Post website.