Sports betting approved for four New York casinos

The four casinos are Tioga Downs Casino; Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady; del Lago Resort & Casino; and Resorts World Catskills, the US$1.2 billion resort casino that celebrated its grand opening early last year.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaimed he was ready for this action during his State of the State address on 15 January. In his speech, Cuomo said, “Let’s authorize sports betting in the upstate casinos. It’s here. It’s a reality, and it will generate activity in those casinos.”

Since the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 is unconstitutional back in May, eight states have passed bills legalizing sports wagering: New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware. We can now add New York to that list.

As far as mobile sports betting goes, the regulations that were approved did not mention it. So for now, it will be land-based sports wagering only. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before online sports betting is in the conversation, since New Jersey’s mobile sports wagering was responsible for more than half of the state’s handle last year.

The next step in this process is a 60-day period for public comments, which will then be edited and sent to the commission for the final vote.

These regulations could be put into place as early as April. New York could be seeing the final vote by the New York State Gaming Commission right after March Madness concludes.

Source: GMB / Online.CasinoCity.com