Mobile Sports Betting Hopes in NY Dashed

• S 17 mobile betting provision defeated in the NY Assembly
• Gov Cuomo welcomes the move
• Sen. Addabbo reckons $75 million will be missed by the state

Mobile sports betting in New York will not happen as the Assembly voted against the S 17 provision enabling digital wagers.

Mobile Sports Betting Bill No-Go in NY

After much excitement that New York would finally get its sports betting bill hit the governor’s office, an Assembly hiccup laid waste to the mobile betting ambitions of the Empire State. Sponsored by Senator Joseph Addabbo S 17 faltered in the Assembly Standing Committee on Codes.

I have not witnessed a clear reason why NY can’t implement mobile sports betting this year. Just for the remainder of this fiscal year, we would be losing out on approximately $75 million in revenue, educational funding and both job creation and retention.

— SenatorJoeAddabbo (@SenJoeAddabbo) June 19, 2019

The Assembly extended the regular legislative session and voted down the bill on Thursday, June 20, snuffing out ambitions for mobile spots betting. The good news is that sports betting isn’t dead in the Empire State, but rather than betting from the comfort of one’s own home sports fans will have to go to casinos and place their wagers in person.

Sen. Addabbo didn’t miss out on defending S 17 on Tweet, arguing that by not enabling mobile sports betting – a term now synonymous for online sports betting in the U.S. – NY was missing out on $75 million in revenue.

This is not entirely true. States claim only a percentage of sportsbooks’ revenue – i.e. the money that hasn’t been paid back to bettors. In other words, the number $75 million could more adequately be applied to how much sports handle the Empire State could expect missing out on. Here is what Sen. Addabbo had to say:

“NY will be stuck like a disabled car on the shoulder, while we allow an illegal sports betting business in our state thrive and idly watch other neighboring states pass us up with enormous revenue gains from mobile sports betting.”

States Pushing with Moe Legislative Measures in Favor of Betting

This past few weeks have been frantic with activity. Multiple states, including Illinois, Indiana and Maine have been pushing ahead with their votes. Emboldened by the progress of other states, New York has backed the bill in the Senate Rules Committee giving it unanimous support.

Yet, the Assembly turned out a much tougher nut to crack with Speaker of the Camber Carl Heastie insisting that a constitutional amendment would be necessary to allow mobile betting to take place. Heastie was backed by NY Governor Andrew Cuomo who has been reluctant to show any support for mobile sports betting specifically, excluding it from the 2019/2020 budget.

Addabbo has been working together With Member of the Assembly Gary Pretlow and together they have been trying to introduce sports betting in New York for at least several years now. Speaking to iGaming Business, a respected online edition focusing on legal changes in the U.S. gaming industry, Mr. Addabbo said:

“Once we put the servers, the actual technology, on the site of our existing licensed casinos, the server is actually where the bet takes place, satisfying our constitutional language. If we are in any other part of the state, the bet is placed where it is received.”

Moving forward, gamblers will now be able to place wagers at four upstate NY casinos, as per the Gaming Commission’s latest regulations. All four venues, including Rivers Casino, Tioga Downs, Del Lago Resort and Monticello Resorts World Catskills.