OTB, 1784 restaurant bow out in New London

New London — Closed due to the coronavirus threat in midMarch, the Winners off-track betting location at 24 Eugene O’Neill Drive will not reopen in the space it most recently shared with the 1784 restaurant, which also has permanently closed.

Bill Cornish, who owns the property, said Sportech Venues, which operates OTB facilities throughout the state, informed him weeks ago that it would not renew its lease of the space, where bettors wagered on simulcasts of horse and dog racing and jai alai.

Cornish’s son, Rod Cornish, opened 1784 last November after another restaurant at the site closed.

“The lease in New London comes to an end shortly, so, as (we) have been closed four months for coronavirus, we decided it didn’t make sense to reopen for just a few weeks,” Ted Taylor, the Sportech Venues president, wrote Friday in an email. “It’s a real shame but, sadly, it was the only sensible business decision.”

Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order June 16 that extended the shutdown of OTB facilities until July 20, the planned start of the third phase of his reopening of nonessential businesses.

Taylor said it’s unlikely Sportech will look for another New London location until the state has acted on the legalization of sports betting. Sportech has lobbied for a piece of the potential sports-betting action, as have the casino-owning Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, who claim their gaming agreements with the state grant them the exclusive right to provide state-approved sports betting.

Taylor said the coronavirus-induced shutdown has hit the OTB business at the busiest time of year. He said Sportech Venues also will not renew a lease at its Windham location, leaving it with 12 shuttered Winners locations, including those at the Bobby V’s restaurants at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and in Stamford.

Sportech’s online and phone wagering platform has been available during the shutdown.

Rod Cornish, who owns the popular Hot Rod Café on Bank Street, had opened 1784 after the departure of Gus’s Pizza, which previously occupied the Eugene O’Neill space. Sportech Venues’ lease called for a restaurant on the site.

Bill Cornish said he’s looking for a new tenant for the now-vacant property and would welcome another restaurant. “It’s got a beautiful bar, kitchen, a lot of gear,” he said.

Bill Cornish built the copper-covered bar for the Copperwood Grill, the restaurant he opened in 2010, when the OTB facility first began taking bets there.