Mobile sports betting is off the table in New York, at least for the foreseeable future, after it failed to make the cut in the new state budget that took effect April 1.
Mobile’s absence from the $175.5 billion spending plan was not unexpected after Gov. Andrew Cuomo repeatedly made clear his position that adopting it would require an amendment to the state Constitution𑁋a lengthy process requiring approval by successive legislatures and a statewide voter referendum.
Advocates in the Assembly and Senate, who say they have the legal opinions to dispute Cuomo’s position, could try to revive the issue before the current legislative session ends in June, but absent the support of the governor and the leadership of both chambers, success is not likely.
The upshot is that full-scale Las Vegas-style sports betting will be coming to New York at some point in the next couple of months under state Gaming Commission guidelines in the process of finalization. But the massive New York City market will not be taking part. Instead, it will be restricted to on-site wagering at the four upstate commercial casinos𑁋the closest of which lies at least a two-hour’s drive from the metropolitan area𑁋and the state’s seven tribal casinos should they choose to offer it.
“It’s disappointing,” said Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow, a mobile supporter.
“We’re sitting on the sidelines and letting our money go out of state,” complained Senator Joseph Addabbo, Pretlow’s counterpart in the upper house who introduced a mobile betting bill earlier this year.
Sports betting was included in the 2013 law authorizing the commercial casinos𑁋Resorts World Catskills in Monticello, Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, del Lago Resort & Casino in the Finger Lakes and Tioga Downs Casino Resort near Binghamton𑁋and the process of regulating it was set in motion last May, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a longstanding federal ban on sports betting nationwide.
It will be a welcome addition for the properties, which have struggled with disappointing gaming revenues since their debut at the end of 2016.
But the big money is in betting by phone and online, which in neighboring New Jersey accounts for 78 percent of wagers.
Addabbo claims remote wagering would garner the state an initial $30 million in taxes and a combined $60 million in licensing fees from the casinos.
