The New York Senate budget plan does not account for online casino gaming revenue. According to state Senator Joseph Abbaddo, who has championed iGaming legislation for five years, that means online casinos likely will not pass the legislature this year.
Speaking to PlayUSA after his panel at the iGaming NEXT Summit in downtown Manhattan, Abbaddo said there is still a possibility, however remote, for the issue to be revived. “It’s out of the budget but that doesn’t mean we cannot resume that conversation in June or December,” he said. “It materializes at any point.”
In leaving iGaming out of the budget, lawmakers followed the lead of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose January budget message included neither online casino nor online lottery.
The state must complete the 2024-25 fiscal year budget by April 1. “I’ll always be ready, but I’m not going to be the only one saying. ‘Hey, we’ve got to do it,’” Addabbo told PlayUSA. “If the governor wants to do this, we do it. If the governor doesn’t want to do it, we don’t do it.”
Addabbo is sponsoring an internet casino bill this year that includes subsidies for union dealers, and promises to use only union dealers for live table-game feeds. However, without the support of the governor or the Senate, he said the issue likely is dead for 2024.
