Bet on it: NY mobile sports gambling to go live this weekend

January 6, 2022 David Porter, Associated Press

A mobile sports betting app. AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File

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Mobile sports betting is coming to New York.

The state’s gaming commission announced Thursday that four of the nine mobile sports wagering operators selected in November have been approved to accept bets as early as Saturday morning.

The announcement gave the go-ahead to Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Rush Street Interactive. The New York State Gaming Commission said the other five — Wynn Interactive, Resorts World, BallyBet, BetMGM and PointsBet — are in the process of meeting statutory and regulatory requirements and will be approved when those requirements are met.

Several upstate casinos began allowing in-person sports betting in 2019, but the push to tap into the more lucrative mobile market stalled while then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo questioned whether approving it would require a change to the state’s constitution, before he ultimately signed the the bill into law in April.

State elected officials have estimated it could bring in up to $500 million in tax revenue annually.

Democratic state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., a longtime advocate for legal sports gambling, called the announcement Thursday “great news for New York in terms of revenue, new funding for education, addiction programs and youth sports, as well as new jobs.”

Since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1990s federal law against sports gambling in a case brought by then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, about half of U.S. states have implemented some form of legal sports gambling. New York has seen neighboring New Jersey and other nearby states, most recently Connecticut, implement sports betting laws that lured away gamblers and revenue.

New Jersey has surpassed Nevada as the top sports betting market in the U.S. Through the end of November, New Jersey’s nine casinos and the three horse tracks that take sports bets have taken nearly $10 billion in wagers, including online wagers. Industry experts have estimated as much as 25% to 30% of sports bets in New Jersey are placed by New York residents.

Connecticut began accepting sports wagers in October, and Pennsylvania has had legal sports betting since late 2018.