Itt Makes Bid For Garden

ITT Corp. has offered to discontinue handling bets on professional basketball and hockey at its Nevada casinos to win approval from the leagues for its deal to buy Madison Square Garden and its two New York sports teams.

NBA and NHL officials are reviewing the deal because the Garden owns the Knicks and Rangers.

Jim Gallagher, a spokesman for ITT, said those discussions are continuing, but ITT has reached a “general understanding” with the leagues on the issue of its sports betting operations.

ITT has offered to quit taking bets at its casinos on either the Knicks or the Rangers as soon as the deal is done and cease taking bets on any NBA and NHL games after an unspecified transition period, he said. The leagues prohibit owners from having a stake in handling bets on their games.

Gallagher said ITT hopes to secure their approval and complete the $1.075 billion deal as early as next week.