Since 2018, many states have legalized the operations of local sports betting within their territories. This was after the Supreme Court of the United States have struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Act or PASPA of 1992. Because of this, there are now over 20 states in the US that allow the local operations of sports betting.
New York is very particular when it comes to the online casinos in the USA. Generally, games of chance are still considered illegal in New York, but the locals are still able to play online slots with real money and other casino games online by just making sure that they place their bets on casinos that are based outside the US.
Fortunately for sports fans, sports betting is now also legal in New York. However, the operations of online betting are still not allowed. The launch of sports betting in New York happened in July of last year. However, only four casinos are allowed to take sports wagers from the locals. These are the Del Lago Resort & Casino, Tioga Downs Casino, Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady, and the Resorts World Catskills.
Now, even if sports betting is already allowed in the state, New York is still not gaining as much revenue as states like New Jersey are earning from sports betting. This is mainly because New Yorkers would rather place their bets in New Jersey that allows online betting.
According to reports, many New York punters would rather hop on the train to New Jersey and place their bets online instead of driving upstate to place their bets on the four licensed casinos. With this, New York is still losing potential revenue from betting.
This is what State Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr is saying when it comes to sports betting revenues. He said, “This is the way that New York is losing revenue, number one. We’re losing educational funding because a portion of our gaming wages goes toward educational funding. And also, the addiction problem. Right now, if you want to help someone who has a gaming addiction you can’t help them because you don’t know who they are.
“Now that the pandemic’s hit, now you just added another upwards of $10 billion to our already $7 billion deficit in our budget, and so the revenue need grows,” the senator added.
Statistics show that people just really prefer to place their bets online nowadays. In New Jersey, around 80 to 90 percent of the sports betting handle that they get monthly comes from the online sector. Meanwhile, the majority of the bets placed in Colorado just this July were also made online. According to reports, 96.8 of the best in Colorado were made online.
Governor Cuomo of New York has been hesitant about allowing mobile betting in the state because of New York’s constitution. The local constitution states that gambling activities should only be placed in licensed land casinos in the state. Governor Cuomo believes that the constitution needs to be amended to allow mobile betting. Doing this means that sports betting may only be allowed by 2024 because a constitutional amendment could take that long.
However, Speaker of New York Carl Heastle said that there is a possibility that mobile betting will be allowed before the year ends. According to him, mobile sports betting will be included in the upcoming revenue bill in the state. If this passes, the locals will be allowed to download betting apps and placed their bets online.
Senator Addabbo also talked about the constitutionality of mobile betting. He said, “At first, the question was of the constitutionality of mobile sports betting in our state, but I think we’ve gone beyond the constitutionality issue because once you put the server that accepts the wager on the land of the licensed casino, you satisfy our constitutionality issue as well as the intent of the constitution.
“I was advocating that it should’ve been in the budget back in April because it is a revenue generator and an educational funding generator. But I had that opportunity and the Governor decided not to do it. And here we are six months later or so and your need for revenue and education funding has grown.”
Senator Addabbo expressed that he is feeling positive about online betting in New York. He said, “I got to say, I’m the most optimistic I’ve ever been. When you have great concern in the assembly and the Speaker there says, “well, we’ll do it as part of our revenue package,” I’ll be optimistic. I am. I won’t be happy until it’s passed and we’re on our way. But today, September 8, I’m very optimistic.”
