New York Governor Andrew Cuomo seems to have softened his interpretation of what legal moves are needed for his state to allow mobile online betting.
Cuomo, speaking in a radio interview, said state legislators could legalize wagering before the end of their current session.
“It’s possible,” Cuomo told WAMC radio host Alan Chartock. “I think the time is short and the list is long, so I would counsel the legislative leaders to get the priorities done, because these priorities are not easy.”
New York law only allows in-person sports gambling at four upstate casinos, and Cuomo has previously said that betting through a mobile-phone app would require an amendment to the state constitution. That could be a lengthy process requiring a voter referendum.
State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, a supporter of online legislation, has argued that mobile gambling could be legalized without an amendment so long as the computer servers used in the wagering are physically in those casinos.
Addabbo told the New York Post he was surprised by Cuomo’s comment.
“The last conversation I had with . . . the governor’s office was last week, and we were still not on the same page,” said Addabbo, a sponsor of the mobile sports betting bill and chairman of the Senate Gaming and -Wagering Committee.
A spokesman for Cuomo said after the governor’s radio appearance, however, that his misgivings about legalized mobile sports betting remained in place.
“Our position on constitutional concerns has not changed,” Rich Azzopardi told the newspaper. “But we remain in discussions with the Legislature.”
