New York Governor Kathy Hochul submitted her executive budget for 2025 last week, and one line item was glaringly absent: there was no projected revenue from online casino gaming.
Hochul’s failure to include iGaming in the budget is being called a critical blow to the prospects of legalizing online gaming in 2024. That effort began two weeks ago when state Senator Joseph Addabbo introduced a bill for the second year in a row to legalize online casino gaming in New York.
The state legalized sports betting in 2013, and launched its first sportsbook in 2019. Mobile betting began in 2022, and there are now nine online sportsbooks in New York.
Addabbo has long argued that the state is leaving millions on the table through the prohibition of iGaming. His new bill, S 8185, is a refile of the legislation he submitted last year, with the addition of iLottery, protections against the cannibalization of brick-and-mortar casinos, and an additional $11 million earmarked for addiction programs.
Addabbo estimated last year that legalizing iCasino in New York would generate $475 million in annual revenue for the state.
This year’s bill called for a 31.5 percent tax on gross gaming revenue and covered all manner of iCasino play, including slots, table games and live dealer games.
It also defined at least 19 “qualifying entities” as potential casino licensees, including destination resorts, video lottery parlors that offer live racing, federally recognized tribes that have an agreement with the state, and existing sports betting platforms.
Three online casino licenses would be awarded through a bidding process. Casino operators would pay a $2 million one-time fee while interactive operators would pay a $10 million one-time fee.
Hochul’s budget for 2025 totals $233 billion, an estimated $1 billion increase over 2024. Hochul claims the increase will be accomplished without raising taxes.
Analysts are saying the absence of iGaming from the 2025 New York budget is likely to torpedo Addabbo’s effort to legalize iGaming this year. Addabbo has consistently emphasized the importance of Hochul’s support for the bill, and the absence of support in the budget will mean an uphill battle for iGaming legislation this year.
Also missing from the budget is another bill by Addabbo, proposing fixed-odds racing at tracks alongside parimutuel betting.
Hochul is currently deluged with other gaming matters, including the licensing process for three proposed downstate casinos and a long-term renewal of the gaming compact with the Seneca Nation, after the tribe agreed to extend its existing compact through March 31.
March 31 also is the deadline for the final budget agreement between the legislature and Hochul to be passed.
Addabbo and other supporters of iGaming in New York point to the state’s sports betting program as evidence of the massive revenues to be had from online casino gaming. With sportsbook revenue taxed at 51 percent, it has been a windfall for the state.
“Sports betting has generated a ton of revenue,” said Brendan Bussmann, managing partner at B Global Advisors, in an interview with iGaming Business. “But when you’re taxing 50 percent of revenue it should be. It’s one of the most populous states. When you get half of all dollars, that’ll be a big number. New York is surrounded by sports betting. They’ve got it in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey—everyone wants to be in New York City because you’ve got a high amount of people. You want to be there.”
With most of the revenue in states that have both iGaming and sports betting coming from the online casino side, even 31.5 percent of iGaming revenue in that populous of a state would translate into massive revenue.
