If legal sports betting arrives in New York this year it looks like it will be restricted to on-site wagering at the state’s commercial and tribal casinos.
That’s how Governor Andrew Cuomo sees it anyway, which means that’s how it likely will go.
Cuomo’s budget director, Robert Mujica, said the administration believes extending sports betting beyond the casinos’ physical space—that is, to any online or remote platform, or to bricks and mortar locations such as racetracks, racinos and OTBs—would violate the state Constitution.
As for amending the Constitution accordingly, “That’s a separate conversation,” Mujica said.
As expected, the governor endorsed legalization in his 2019 State of the State and budget proposal delivered last Tuesday, but he was careful to steer clear of the bigger picture—a much more complex picture as well, legally and politically—and sticking to the four privately owned upstate casinos whose 2013 authorizing legislation already allows it: Resorts World Catskills in Monticello, del Lago Resort & Casino in the Finger Lakes, Tioga Downs Casino Resort near Binghamton in the Southern Tier, and Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady.
Their biggest obstacle was removed last May when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling voiding a longstanding federal ban on sports betting. At that point, it was a matter of the state Gaming Commission establishing rules under which operating licenses could be issued. That’s now expected to happen as soon as the end of this month, according to Morris Peters, spokesman for the state Budget Office.
The Oneida Indian Nation has indicated it plans to start taking bets at its three casinos in central New York as soon as its commercial competition is in business under the terms of its compact with the state, which permits the tribe any form of gaming that’s legal elsewhere in New York.
The state’s other major gaming tribe, the Senecas, have not stated their plans publicly, but are expected to follow suit.
In the legislature, Senator Joseph Addabbo, the Queens Democrat who became chair of the Racing, Gaming & Wagering Committee when his party took control of the Senate after the November elections, responded guardedly to Cuomo’s announcement.
He had pre-filed a bill for the new legislative session to allow online and remote wagering and now says he’s seeking legal opinions on what he called the governor’s “interpretation.”
Addabbo’s counterpart in the Assembly, Democrat Gary Pretlow of Yonkers, was expected to introduce a bill similar to Addabbo’s. However, Addabbo has since hedged his bets by sponsoring a second bill that would start the process of amending the Constitution, a three-year ordeal at best that requires the assent of two successive legislatures and approval by the voters in a referendum.
Queens Democrat Clyde Vanel, meanwhile, has introduced a bill in the Assembly to create a legislative task force to study and make recommendations for regulating online betting.
“I think we need to maximize the potential, and do it right but do it quickly,” Addabbo said. “With the governor’s proposal, we now have a schematic to move forward with sports betting. It’s important that we get it started, even if we have to expand it in phases.”
Credit Suisse gaming analyst Cameron McKnight of Credit Suisse estimates New York could generate $810 million in sports betting revenue by its third year of operation, assuming mobile betting is legalized by 2022.
