The Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee held a public hearing to take a look at what impact merging all of regional Off-Track Betting systems into one corporation would have. Our Kaitlyn Ross joined us from the newsroom with more on the hearing.

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NEW YORK STATE -- Racing is trying to get back in the game in New York State. The industry is reeling after New York City's OTB went bankrupt and shut down last week, leaving a thousand people out of work and insiders wondering where to go next.

The Assembly hosted a hearing on the future of racing in New York State, inviting breeders, horsemen and franchise owners in to share their ideas on how to revive the dying business and much of the conversation was on how to market to a 21st century crowd.

Many of the industry insiders were talking about how drum up interest among younger gamblers, floating ideas like watching racing on smart phones and taking the betting out of the parlors and putting it in to sports bars and hotels.

And while they couldn't really agree on where to start the makeover, all of them made it clear that something has to change.

"If we fail there are no horses to run races, if there's no horses, there's no wagering. If there is no wagering, there is no OTB, there is no race track," said Jeff Cannizzo of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Fund.

Much of the discussion also centered on putting OTB under one umbrella, with one president and management team instead of several spread throughout the state.