New York Reaches A Deadline On Legal Sports Betting

New Yorkers should be able to bet on sports all over the state in a matter of weeks. Some think that apps could be operational by the end of the year. Others are predicting a more reasonable time in January or February. This is due to the weird limbo we’re in with New York Sports Betting: it’s legal, but not for online platforms yet. As of now, New Yorkers have to settle for in-person sports betting at upstate casinos. The state government has been working towards a fast-approaching December 6th deadline in which they must choose at least two services to start online sports betting.

The New York State Gaming Commission is the department that was given the Dec. 6th deadline. The organization already approved nine online sports betting licenses for FanDuel, DraftKings, Bally Bet, BetMGM, Caesars, WynnBET, Empire Resorts, PointsBet, and BetRivers. Those who weren’t approved were Fanatics and bet365. A special case was made for Madison Square Garden in New York City, which will have exclusive BetMGM betting stations inside the stadium.

New York approved sports betting in 2019. There was a year of deliberation because there was a sizable faction of lawmakers who were against gambling in their state. This led to a hard-fought battle just to get sports betting approved. As it stands, sports betting is on the books for 2022 but Casino games are still restricted to actual casinos in New York.

New York is falling behind other states that had their online betting platforms ready for the start of the 2021 NFL season. This flurry of betting approvals started in 2018 when the Supreme Court repealed an old federal prohibition on betting outside of Las Vegas. Several states took quick advantage of their new ability to have legal online betting, especially sports betting. Sports is the one thing every state has in common, and you’ll find passionate fans everywhere. Even so, New York’s lawmakers were not keen to get the measures going quickly.

The 2022 schedule gives the state’s gaming commission plenty of time to get things together, and the companies behind betting platforms ample time to set up their apps. Their functionality should be the same as it is for every other state, so we shouldn’t see much difference. However, New York is full of special cases such as NYC. The Madison Square Garden deal is sure to be lucrative and requires special rules.

Speaking of New York City, residents of the Big Apple are sure to be big players in the sports betting scene. Since New York’s casinos are all located upstate, the people of NYC need to take a bus or train to do any gambling. Ask any New Yorker: leaving the city isn’t something you do a lot. So that’s millions upon millions of people who can be betting but aren’t. Once online betting and the Madison Square Garden kiosks activate, the betting money from NYC will pour in. New York will soon become a top earner when it comes to betting revenue, and the sports betting jackpots in New York are sure to be high.

New York probably still has to get through the rest of 2021 before it will see sports betting. It’s in the budget, and the current pace of implementation has been slower than that of other states. But many experts agree that New York will want to get everything in place in time for the Super Bowl, one of the biggest sports betting events of the year. We’ll likely get more word this week, so keep an eye out to know just how wild your Super Bowl party will get.