New York Casino Sports Betting History: All You Need to Know about Sports Betting at NY Casinos

New York legalized sports betting at its commercial casinos in 2013. The New York State Gaming Commission approved preliminary rules and regulations on January 28. Tribal casinos would be permitted to offer sports betting along with commercial facilities under the proposed regulations. However, tracks, racinos, and off-track betting (OTB) are not covered under the current law. Mobile and online sports betting missed its opportunity this past session in New York. For now, sports betting will only be offered at select casinos in the state.

How Did Sports Betting Come to Fruition at Casinos?

In 2013 a law permitted the construction of four commercial casinos located in New York’s Upstate region. Part of that law allowed for sports betting to be offered at those casinos, assuming a federal ban on sports betting was lifted. Once the 2018 PASPA ruling by the Supreme Court, New York’s sports betting law took effect for the state’s four commercial casinos. The New York State Gaming Commission then approved preliminary rules and regulations on January 28 which started to put things in motion for New York. In June the Commission formally approved regulations for sports betting.

Casinos That Can Offer Sports Betting

Currently, only four casinos can apply for sports betting licenses in the state:

– del Lago Resort & Casino
– Tioga Downs Casino
– Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady
– Resort World Catskills

None of these NY sportsbooks are currently open. However, New York residents could be placing bets at these casinos by the start of the 2019 NFL season.

Based on their compacts with the state, tribal casinos in New York look to be able to offer sports betting as well. The compacts state that tribal casinos can offer any games that commercial casinos in New York offer.

According to the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law section 1351, all forms of gaming other than slots will be taxed at 10 percent of gross gaming revenue.

Future of New York Casinos and Sports Betting

Mobile

No state is having the kind of issues with legal mobile sports betting that New York is. Governor Andrew Cuomo seems to be doing everything in his power to avoid the issue and even seems to have the Assembly following in his footsteps. Mobile sports betting is key for New York to fully capitalize on the revenue that sports betting can generate in the state.

The biggest city in the United States, New York City, has nearly nine million residents. The easiest way for them to bet on sports isn’t in-state at one of the commercial casinos upstate, instead, they are better off traveling just across state lines into New Jersey. There they can place sports bets on their phone. A much simpler solution that traveling hours to a casino to place a bet in-person. However, it appears New York will be waiting at least another year to try and bring mobile sports betting to the state, maybe even longer.

Casino/Sportsbook Partnerships

– Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural also owns Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey. Which is home to FanDuel Sportsbook. It is safe to assume that FanDuel will also run the sportsbook operations at Tioga Downs.

– del Lago Resort & Casino has teamed up with DraftKings to operate its sportsbook.

– Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady is owned and operated by Rush Street Interactive, the same company that owns other similarly-named casino properties. Rush Street Interactive will continue to use its own sports betting platform in New York with the help of Kambi Technology

– Resort World Catskills has already partnered up with European company bet365 for its sportsbook operations.