BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Mobile sports betting and marijuana remain two of the most significant pieces of legislation that may pass in Albany this year. If both are legalized in New York State, when will it take effect?
"There will definitely be a waiting period," New York State Senator Sean Ryan said of mobile betting. "It's unclear how much regulation they will have to do to monitor this. We all know this is about collecting taxes, right? We have to figure out a way then to figure it out and work with the companies to make sure those bets are paying their taxes."
Ultimately, the final decision on when mobile betting takes effect will come from the New York State Gaming Decision. When reached by phone, a spokesperson for the commission said there is no timetable yet for when it will take effect.
Like mobile betting, a rollout timeline for marijuana is unclear. Ryan said its rollout may take even longer to set up a regulatory system.
"If you think of the state liquor authority, there are people who distribute alcohol, there's bars that can sell it under very strict conditions, there's certain stores that can sell beer but not liquor," Ryan said. "There's going to be a lot of deep regulatory questions about marijuana once we get to that point."
In his State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will legalize marijuana this year, joining 15 other states that have already legalized the drug.
"This will raise revenue and will end the over criminalization of this product that has left so many communities of color over policed and over incarcerated."
The governor said mobile sports betting will help to raise additional funds for the state that's been devastated financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are a fiscally responsible state; we only ask for an equitable partnership from Washington," Cuomo said.
Ryan said mobile betting is a "safe bet" to pass this year. However, he's not sure that 2021 is the year that marijuana will get legalized because of out-of-state investors.
"I want a decriminalization to continue but I don't want a rabid commercialization of the sales of marijuana," Ryan said. "I don't want signs up like we used to have for tobacco and alcohol...I don't want advertisements near schools. I don't want signs in front of places like 7/11 that say 'marijuana special today'...We would like to have a soft-commercialized system and one that certainly doesn't promote the use of marijuana. My fear is that it becomes like tobacco."
