A lowered tax rate for the Western Regional Off-Track Betting is set to create millions in additional revenue for their host municipalities.

Western Regional OTB President and former Buffalo mayor Byron Brown announced on Friday a 5% reduction on net gaming revenues.

State lawmakers helped secure that rate reduction as part of the new state budget.

Brown says that will allow OTB to contribute more revenue to 17 communities that host OTB sites across New York, including areas from Chautauqua to Wyoming counties.

“One of the first things I did as President and CEO was to reach out to leaders in Albany to make the case for reducing our tax rate so we can get even more dollars to our partners in local government, right size our employee wages and lower the cost of family healthcare coverage for our incredible employees. We are grateful they heard us loud and clear,” Brown said in a statement. “For too long, we paid a drastically higher tax rate than neighboring gaming facilities. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Hochul, our champion in Albany Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples Stokes, members of the State Senate and State Assembly and the UPSEU Labor Relations Representative, we will now be able to get even more funds to local governments and recognize our employees for all of the hard work they do every day and their commitment to deliver exceptional service.”