Both chambers of the New York State legislature are mounting a full-court press to include mobile sports betting in the state budget.
State Assemblyman Gary Pretlow told LegalSportsReport.com that he’ll deliver a letter to Speaker Carl Heastie this week that asks not just for mobile wagering but expedited downstate casino licenses in the Assembly budget.
This marks the first effort on the Assembly side to join the Senate. Last year, Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr. succeeded in getting the sports betting expansion language into the Senate budget, but it wasn’t enough to get it into the final package.
“I’m pushing hard in my house, and I know the senator is pushing hard in his house, to get this in the budget,” Pretlow said. “The state is supposedly looking at a $4 billion to $6 billion deficit this year, and this would go a long way to reduce that.”
While Pretlow doesn’t think policy should be part of the budget, if that’s the only way to get it done, so be it, he said. “This is more fiscal than policy, to alleviate some of the pressures we have with our shortfall.”
Will Governor Andrew Cuomo be swayed?
“This is not the time to come up with creative, although irresponsible, revenue sources to solve a problem which doesn’t really exist,” Cuomo said in his budget address.
Mobile sports betting wouldn’t solve the sizable New York budget deficit. Estimates suggest it would add about $100 million in revenue for the state. Speeding up the issuance of three licenses for casinos around the New York City area could make that between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. Pretlow noted two offers on the table of half a billion dollars each from existing facilities in the state to become full-fledged casinos, adding he is asking for them to increase their offers.
This is a big enough number to put pressure on the governor, if both chambers include the gambling expansions in their one-house budget proposals.
Pretlow said he has 71 members of the Assembly in favor of having mobile New York sports wagering in the budget. He needs five more votes to clear a majority, and he’s confident he can get there.
“Before the budget is printed, I will speak to the entire Democratic Conference and get them on board to doing it,” Pretlow said. “I think that will put pressure on the speaker to get on board. He’s not a fan of gambling, period, but he’s also swayed by the opinion of the entire conference.”
New York must have a budget in place by April 1.
Mobile sports betting’s chances to make the budget will become clearer by the middle of March when the Assembly finalizes its budget proposal. If the Assembly joins the Senate in pushing for gambling expansions in the budget, the spotlight will be on Cuomo to make a decision. “He’ll be hard-pressed to veto it,” Pretlow said. “He can say he didn’t want to do it, but the legislature did it.”
