If they are successful ion their lobbying efforts, casino companies have the potential for a big payday.
Almost anyone in New York above the age of 21 has been able to bet on sports legally for more than two years now. And millions have.
In January 2022, the state launched mobile sports betting. Gamblers have stampeded to betting apps. DraftKings and FanDuel companies have bombarded the airwaves with ads and leagues. It includes NFL and NBA. These have fully embraced sports betting. Sports bettors have wagered almost $40 billion on sports. New York has surpassed two other juggernauts in the sports betting space. In the past two years, people in New Jersey have bet $22.9 billion and those in Nevada have wagered $1.61 billion. New York is already being called the “sports betting capital of the world” for a big part of this reason.
However, the rise of sports betting may not end up being the most consequential new form of gambling in the state. Some New York lawmakers and many in the industry are pressing to legalize a lesser-known type of mobile wagering known as iGaming or interactive gaming. iGaming is essentially in an online casino, featuring slots, blackjack, roulette and craps. It has the potential to be more lucrative for gambling companies than sports betting but it may also be problematic.
It was difficult to legally gamble anywhere in New York up until recently; let alone on a computer or phone. For decades, the state limited official wagering to state-run lotteries and betting on horse races. It includes gambling allowed on Native American tribal lands under federal law. In 2013, New York authorized four Las Vegas-style casinos upstate. Each of those games either opened or expanded into offering a full array of table games between late 2016 to early 2018.
The US Supreme Court struck down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in May 2018. This had effectively outlawed sports betting throughout the country with the Nevada being the most notable exception. The decision paved the way for states to legalize sports wagering. Very quickly, the floodgates opened. New Jersey was one of the first to act and within a year a dozen states had passed some sort of legalization bill. More than 20 states had within two years.
