As 2020 dawned, New York state Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr. continued his push for mobile sports betting. The Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee he chairs passed sports betting bill S 17 on January 13 in the committee’s first meeting of the year.
According to LegalSportsReport.com, the Senate approved S 17 last June, but the Assembly never brought it up for a vote after getting word that Governor Andrew Cuomo would veto the legislation. The bill carried over unchanged to the second year of New York’s two-year session.
Less than five minutes into the hearing Monday morning, the bill had unanimous approval after quick comments from members, then moved to the Senate Finance Committee.
Addabbo sees the quick start as a way to capitalize on momentum for the impending budget process, which begins this month. He hopes Cuomo will include mobile casino expansion and sports betting in the budget. But the governor didn’t speak on either in his State of the State address earlier this month.
“Every time the governor spoke at the State of the State, I heard a cash register go off. (I) see the need for substantial revenue, which I believe mobile sports betting and the three unused commercial gaming licenses provide,” Addabbo said.
The budget process will continue until April 1, with discussions among the Senate, Assembly and executive office.
As passed by the Senate, S 17 could be better for the industry, but it’s not getting any improvements before moving out of committee this year.
Key components of the bill include:
- An initial license fee of $12 million
- Tax rate of 8.5 percent on retail sports betting and 12 percent on mobile
- 20 percent of the handle on all wagers go to professional sports leagues as an integrity fee
- One skin per casino
- Casinos required to use official league data for in-play wagers if made available on “commercially reasonable terms” as determined by the New York Gaming Commission
- Racetracks, off-track betting parlors, sports stadiums and arenas may partner with commercial casinos to offer sports betting through the mobile servers on their properties. Indian tribes also would need to partner with commercial casinos to offer mobile wagering
