NY Online Sports Betting is at a Crossroads. Online sports betting is going to happen in New York, but what it might look like is up in the air. Cuomo has come out in support of a lottery-run. With New York facing a $15 billion budget shortfall from the coronavirus pandemic, online sports betting is viewed as one possible way to inject much-needed money into the state. The status of NY online sports betting. In 2013, New York voters passed a referendum allowing for gambling expansion. The New York Gaming Economic Development Act paved the way for the construction of four new commercial casinos in the upstate region. Michigan sports betting is live! Betting on sports became legal in the Great Lakes State in 2019, and the first retail sportsbooks opened their doors in March 2020. Michigan online sports betting, casinos and poker sites are now live as of Jan. The rush for signing up new players is also officially on with sportsbooks offering big bonuses.
As the coronavirus pandemic placed new limits on casinos and gaming across the country, those looking to gamble have turned to the internet.
'New York has the potential to be the largest sports wagering market in the United States, and by legalizing online sports betting we aim to keep millions of dollars in revenue here at home, which will only strengthen our ability to rebuild from the COVID-19 crisis.' The sports gambling market is evolving rapidly.
Unfortunately, and sometimes unknowingly, Americans have been playing slots and poker on illegal sites and placing their sports wager with an unregulated online bookie.
While our industry recognizes the benefits of legal online betting and understands the risks associated with wagering on illegal sites, that message isn’t always translating to the consumer, especially when illegal operators are actively deceiving consumers into using their unscrupulous sites.
Case in point: 15 states and the District of Columbia now offer some form of legal online betting including sports betting, iGaming and poker yet, according torecent data from the American Gaming Association (AGA), a third of individuals are unaware if online betting is even legal in their state.
It’s not enough to tell consumers that illegal is bad and legal is good. We must provide them with the tools to understand where online betting is regulated, how to recognize unregulated sites and know how to seek out legal alternatives if they want to place a wager.
Conscious Gaming’s Bettor Safe campaign
Seeing the need for this consumer empowerment, Conscious Gaminglaunched the “Bettor Safe” campaign. Bettor Safe is leveraging a multi-channel approach to educate individuals about regulated online betting through an informational website and advertising, videos and media. This campaign builds off work by regulators, operators and stakeholders to raise awareness about legal gaming while supporting Conscious Gaming’s commitment to strengthening consumer protection and enhancing responsible gaming.
Bettor Safe has a national presence but is tailoring its message and resources to states that have legalized online betting. To start, this includes New Jersey andPennsylvania – two states that have been “online” for some time now and devoted considerable effort to developing appropriate oversight and regulations to ensure that legal operators protect personal and financial information and guarantee fair odds across their online casino offerings. There’s more info about New Jersey and Pennsylvania here and here.
A recent survey conducted by Conscious Gaming on behalf of the Bettor Safe campaign polled more than 500 adults in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, respectively, on their habits and attitudes towards online betting. The survey found that more than 25% of respondents in New Jersey and more than 30% of respondents in Pennsylvania are unaware if online betting is legal in their state or responded that it was not legal. Perhaps more concerning, the survey revealed that an average of 75% of New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents could not or are not sure if they could differentiate a legal betting site from an illegal website.
Impactful messaging about illegal gambling sites
How we overcome this data starts with more effective education. On the most basic level, that’s communicating to consumers whether or not online betting is legal in their state and helping them to understand the types of gaming and betting that they can legally do online (casino-style games, sports wagering, etc.). But this information is worthless to someone wanting to wager online if it’s not coupled with guidance – steps, questions, tips – on how to identify a legal site from an illegal one.
Equally important to education is the message – it needs to be personal. With no meaningful consumer safeguards in place, illegal sites can harm your identity, your winning and your community. In contrast, regulated online betting operators will payout your winnings, will keep you protected through responsible gaming measures and will ensure fair play.
Those aspects of safety, fairness and protection resonate with consumers. Among those surveyed who have bet online, safety and security is most important to them when placing an online wager (42% of respondents in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania) followed by fairness of odds and play (36% of respondents in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania).
With March Madness right around the corner and coronavirus continuing to keep consumers largely at home, this is a critical moment to reach and educate individuals about online betting. The need is there but it will take our collective effort to empower consumers to be bettor safe.
Seth Palansky is Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility ofConscious Gaming, the independent non-profit established by GeoComply which is committed to strengthening consumer protections. For more information about the Bettor Safe campaign launched by Conscious Gaming, visitwww.BettorSafe.org.
With New York facing a $15 billion budget shortfall from the coronavirus pandemic, online sports betting is viewed as one possible way to inject much-needed money into the state. New Jersey legalized online wagers in 2018, and earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo included an online professional sports betting plan in his executive budget proposal that he claimed would raise $500 million in revenue for the state.
But many logistical hurdles remain. Cuomo’s proposal for legalization runs counter to what the Democratic supermajority in the state legislature is pitching. Some authorities are questioning the legality of the whole enterprise. And there are lingering concerns about gambling and addiction, particularly with the number of people sequestered at home and the opportunities that could be suddenly available to lose significant amounts of cash.
“I don’t see the governor’s proposal as workable in New York,” said Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, the chairman of the Committee on Racing and Wagering.
Right now, you can place horse racing bets on your smartphone through an app run by the not-for-profit corporation that oversees horse racing in New York’s three major tracks. Mobile betting for professional sports could theoretically function in a similar way. Currently, the servers for horse betting are located at the racetracks.
Online Sports Betting Ny
In both Cuomo and the legislature's proposals, the servers for mobile sports betting would be situated at places where bets are already taken, like casinos. The major overriding question is how many operators, or “skins,” as they are called in the industry, there will be, and who will get to profit.
Under Cuomo’s proposal, which still needs to be fleshed out further, the New York State Gaming Commission would be directed to solicit bids for a small number of mobile sports wagering operators. The system would be akin to how the state-run lottery functions, with possibly only one or a small number of operators overseeing sports betting. A single operator runs online sports betting in New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia. Overall, sports betting is now legal in more than two dozen states.
Robert Mujica, Cuomo’s budget director, said earlier this month that the advantage of the state proposal would be the ability to maximize tax revenue. “The fundamental question is: if you want to support the bottom line for casinos or New York’s students. And the governor’s proposal chooses students,” Mujica told the Wall Street Journal. (An identical statement was sent to Gothamist from Freeman Klopott, a budget spokesman for Cuomo.)
It’s not clear yet what Cuomo’s tax rate would be for his online betting model, though Mujica has asserted that it would be enough to raise $500 million a year. The state legislative proposal, co-sponsored by Pretlow and the chairman of the State Senate’s Racing and Wagering Committee, Joseph Addabbo, puts the number closer to $100 million annually.
At first glance, that would seem to make Cuomo’s proposal the better one, given the potential for serious state budget cuts without new forms of revenue. But lawmakers and some gambling industry insiders aren’t so sure. In New Jersey, which is generally viewed as a success given the number of people who place bets, there are as many as 17 legal online sportsbooks.
New York’s legislature is looking to take a similar approach, believing their proposal has a better opportunity for growth—more operators can lead to more options for consumers and more interest in placing bets. Addabbo calls his legislation “inclusive,” because it would also allow for Native American casinos, casinos on state property, and off-track betting sites to participate.
“Competition bodes better for our residents and will drive up revenues than being a narrow state-run lottery kind of system,” Addabbo argued. “New York finds itself in a very odd position not being a leader. We are outside looking in. New York right now is a three-wheeled car limping along in the right lane. New Jersey and Pennsylvania are speeding by us.”
Bennett Liebman is a government lawyer in residence at Albany Law School who previously advised Cuomo as the deputy secretary for Gaming and Racing. He said the difference between the two models is a question of what is being prioritized: more tax revenue, or a better model, long-term, for consumers and gambling interests?
“It all depends on what you want in your market. If you want what the governor is seeking, which the draft is very general, you are looking for maximum tax revenue, you will give it to one or two groups and you are going to tax them at a very high rate,” Liebman said. “If you are looking to create a robust market to help out casinos and consumers, then you go with, or you are more inclined to go with, the legislative plan.”
Liebman called the Cuomo administration’s $500 million revenue figure for online sports betting “very, very high,” and predicted a few operators would dominate the space in New York, like DraftKings and FanDuel have done in New Jersey. Casinos, racetracks, and online gambling in total generated a little more than $300 million in tax revenue for New Jersey in 2020.
Even if New York reached Cuomo’s projections—let alone the far smaller figure from the state legislature—online sports betting would represent only a minuscule fraction of a state budget that was $177 billion last year. One question hanging over the debate is whether the united front fighting for mobile sports betting in New York—the currently existing casinos, and operators like DraftKings and FanDuel—would crumble if only a small number of them were selected to make money from sports betting.
According to a constitutional amendment passed in 2013, sports wagering in New York is currently allowed only in physical portions of its four existing commercial casinos and other facilities operated by Indian tribes. Cuomo and supporters of online sports betting believe their proposal will meet the requirements of the state constitution by locating the servers for the betting websites at the physical casinos.
Neil Murray, an Albany attorney who has sued to oppose gambling in the state, said there was a “legitimate, serious question” about the constitutionality of online sports betting.
“The problem right now is the constitutional amendment that was passed several years ago does carve out exceptions for gambling at casinos. The operative word is ‘at’ and what does that mean?”
Murray argued the way the amendment was proposed—an economic stimulus for destination casinos that would prevent the proliferation of gambling statewide—contradicts the arguments made for mobile sports betting today. “If you allow online gambling and people can gamble from their living rooms, then of course that destroys the whole purpose on which gambling was authorized on a limited basis to begin with,” he said. “Everybody is counting on collective amnesia.”
Pretlow, the state assemblyman, contended that his bill met the requirements of the state constitution but Cuomo’s would not if it chose to operate like the state lottery. The lottery is regarded as a game of pure chance with no skill involved, allowing it to circumvent a longtime prohibition on gambling in the state.
“The lottery has to be 100 percent chance. The lottery is not gambling,” Pretlow said. “It’s flip a coin, heads or tails, nothing in the middle. I think if the lottery were to handle sports betting, it would lead to a constitutional question.”
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