Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Starting Saturday morning at 9 a.m. EST, mobile sports betting will now be accessible for residents of New York State.
The New York State Gaming Commission made the announcement on Thursday that four licensed Mobile Sports Wagering Operators - DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook and Rush Street Interactive - have satisfied all requirements to begin accepting and processing mobile sports betting in the state.
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In addition, the state's gaming commission said five other conditionally licensed Mobile Sports Wagering Operators are still working to meet those requirements needed to officially launch in the state. The gaming commission says it will approve the launch of each operator on a rolling basis.
"It is something that the public has asked for for many, many years," said President and CEO of Western Regional OTB and Batavia Downs Gaming, Henry Wojtaszek of Thursday's announcement. "I do think you're going to see a lot of activity. Maybe people will take a little bit of a look at it this weekend, but I think by next weekend with playoff season around and the [Buffalo] Bills doing as well as they're doing, you'll see a lot of local activity, but you'll also see a lot of activity across the state."
With this announcement, people in New York State will now be allowed to download one of these services on their mobile device and wager on a number of different available sporting events all across the globe.
"The way to provide the money for it will be laid out for you by the various companies," Wojtaszek explains. "They may have different ways to approach it. You can use a debit card, or PayPal, or another form of payment, and then you'll be able to make whatever wagers you'd like to make from your phone."
What pushed New York to finally make the move to launch mobile sports betting in the state was when it became apparent just how many people were crossing state lines to spend their money elsewhere rather than being allowed to keep that in-state.
"We did a hearing a couple of years ago, and it showed that 25% of New Jersey's mobile sports betting operation is New Yorkers going there," said Senator Joseph Addabbo on Thursday. "On the average, New York would probably lose, or give to Jersey an estimated $130 million a year just by mobile sports betting. That's revenue, that's educational funds, that's our money going to Jersey."
With that kind of money being able to remain in-state as of Saturday at 9 a.m. EST, Addabbo believes the benefits that New York will witness, once the state maximizes the potential for mobile sports betting, will be plentiful.
Not only is it a matter of money staying in state with the launch of mobile sports betting, but it's also about creating and retaining more jobs for folks across the Empire State.
Another plus for the state that will come about with the implementation of mobile sports betting is providing its residents a safe-haven to bet in their own state.
"Once you do that, once you're regulated in your own state, if you want to help someone with a gaming addiction, now you know who they are," Addabbo said. "Because now they're part of your grid, and you can see the activity, as opposed to them to Jersey or doing it illegally, you can't help them because you don't even know who they are."
With Thursday's announcement, it even allowed for teams in the state to announce partnerships with these entities. This included the Bills, who announced a multi-year partnership with FanDuel to serve as an official mobile sports betting partner of the team.
Despite this week being the final week of the 2021 NFL season that usually sees teams in playoff positions resting starters for the postseason, Wojtaszek still believes people will be active this weekend, testing the waters before everything starts to pick up.
"As you get into the football playoffs and the Super Bowl; we know the Super Bowl is one of the heaviest-bet events in the entire world, and then you go right into March Madness, which is not far behind," Wojtaszek said.
With the stakes starting to get higher in the sporting world, especially in the NFL, Thursday's announcement almost seemed like perfect timing for the state. Addabbo credits the work of Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration and the state gaming commission for getting this launched earlier than expected.
"They had to go through a change in the administration and still work the perimeters and the deadlines that we set forth in the legislation, and they actually did so by working with the providers and the operators," Addabbo said. "And being professional, they actually did so [slightly] ahead of schedule, certainly before the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl."
In the New York State Senate, Addabbo also serves as the Chair of the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee. He and his staff have been hard at work for some time to get this movement off the ground and into action.
While their work has paid off with Saturday's launch, the Senator's crew will get right back at it again with another job to focus on.
"That's the job of evaluating mobile sports betting in New York," Addabbo said. "So we'll look at it after the Super Bowl and after March Madness basketball, and of course maybe six months later, but we'll evaluate and see where we're at. Are we remaining competitive with neighboring states? Are we maximizing our potential for revenue and educational funding? How are we doing mobile sports betting-wise? I think it's important that we evaluate it at that point, and stand at the ready to improve it if we have to."
What other initiatives are Addabbo and his staff with the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee looking to address with mobile sports betting about to take flight?
"One discussion that I want to have immediately in this budget that's upcoming is, 'how do we get mobile sports betting to be merged with horse racing?', Addabbo said. "Right now, as of Saturday, somebody in New York can bet on the [New York] Giants, the [New York] Jets or whatever they want to do, but then have to get off that app onto another app if they wanted to do a horse bet. ... In today's technology, the bottom line is this is unacceptable."
Meanwhile, for the folks at Batavia Downs Gaming, they currently do not have sports betting available on-site. However, there is movement from operators, as well as in government, to change that.
"Current rules allow for 'racinos', of which Batavia Downs is one, to have kiosks at their site beginning next year. So a year from when the activity begins this weekend, we'll be allowed to have kiosks and betting on-site and our track/'racino' area at Batavia Downs," Wojtaszek explains. "In addition, there's a current piece of legislation that's being proposed that will move that timetable up. It has not been passed in the legislature or signed by the Governor yet, but it is proposed and is something that is being looked at currently."
Wojtaszek also says Batavia Downs has the ability to partner with one of the current mobile gaming companies to allow for people to bring money in and either put it into a local account or take money out of a local account.
"That's the important thing to people. They want to be able to put money into an account and then, more importantly, hopefully take money out of an account," he said. "We actually have a relationship with FanDuel. Batavia Downs has had a relationship over the last 4-5 years to work on various projects. We intend to pursue that with FanDuel to allow people to put money into an account, take money out of an account on a personal level here locally in Western New York."
While the work for everyone is far from over pertaining to mobile sports betting in New York State, Senator Addabbo believes Thursday was a very positive day, even for those who may have concerns about gaming.
"I think it's important to note that we already have gaming in our state. we already have casinos, we already have sports betting. We just don't do it very well," Addabbo said. "And there are enough to take large steps in safeguarding against people with an addiction. And, again, if you want to help someone, you couldn't because you didn't know who they were. Now we will identify those that need the assistance. So I think it's important to understand that we can't expand gaming in our state without addressing the addiction issue, as well."