Big gambling related news came out of New York yesterday, as lawmakers are finally moving forward with a sports betting bill. After years of negotiations and a ton of resistance from Governor Andrew Cuomo himself, legislators included the framework for a mobile sports betting deal into the Empire State's 2022 Fiscal budget.
There are still a ton of details that still need to be worked out. Here is what we do know, courtesy of Matt Rybaltowski and Sports Handle:
The New York Lottery will be the ones overseeing mobile sports betting operations. This has been a highly debated subject matter, but it looks like opponents won't really have a say in the matter, at least for now.
There will be a minimum of four mobile sports betting skins in the marketplace. Think of skins as brands like DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, BetMGM, etc. This was also another topic that has people upset on both sides of the coin. Currently, there is no cap on the skins in the paperwork, so other companies in the future will be able to partake in the action if this holds.
There's also a dispute with the Oneida Nation which is creating obstacles.
The ripple effects of the pandemic unfortunately created a deficit too big to overcome for the State, so the Governor had to change his tune in regards to sports betting in general. New York State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Queens) has led the charge to get a mobile betting bill passed, so we left a message for his office to get his current thoughts on the matter.
We should see more details coming out throughout the week and the General Assembly will still have vote to accept the budget, so stay tuned. In the meantime, buckle up, because the biggest player in the game is now officially on track to have mobile betting. The revenue numbers we've seen from New Jersey in 2021 will most likely be shattered quickly by New York.
For more minute to minute updates, here are a couple of people/ companies to follow:
Tom Precious, Ryan Butler, Daniel Wallach, Matt Rybaltowski and Sports Handle, and Legal Sports Report.