Mobile Betting In New York Delayed, Lawmakers Miss Deadline

• The New York State Gaming Commission missed the deadline to vote for mobile sports betting.
• Unless there is a special session, New York legislators will not be able to vote on expanding sports betting until 2022 at the earliest.
• Lawmakers couldn’t agree on making mobile betting state-centric or more commercial.

ALBANY, N.Y. – Sports betting fans in New York got some not-so-good news this past weekend, as the New York State Gaming Commission missed the deadline to vote on mobile betting.

As there will be no more sessions, unless lawmakers push for a special session, to vote on the potential mobile betting market in N.Y., the issue has been pushed to no sooner than 2022.

While New York sports betting has shown no signs in the past of moving to launch mobile betting, local lawmakers and Governor Andrew Cuomo have changed their tune in recent years which shows good signs for a potential 2022 launch.

Mobile Betting Deadline Missed

New York lawmakers had every intention of moving forward with a potential mobile betting market as the measure was included in the 2021-2022 fiscal year budget report that passed in the April vote.

The Gaming Commission needed to release solicitation seeking bidders for online sports betting operations in New York by July 1.

This was delayed, unfortunately, which caused them to miss the deadline. Lawmakers initially aimed to have mobile betting launch in New York in time for the 2022 Super Bowl. This goal is now in jeopardy.

“The fact that our state couldn’t meet its initial mobile sports betting deadline to take a positive step towards recognizing additional educational and anti-addiction funding is disappointing,” said Joseph Addabbo, New York Senator and Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee chairman. “I remain confident that in the end, New York will have a premier, top-shelf mobile sports betting product to offer its residents and effectively compete in the market.”

New York lawmakers could potentially push for a special session that solely focuses on mobile betting. But the likelihood of this taking place is very low.

Lawmakers have not come to a consensus of how the market would run which will likely be debated until 2022.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing for a mobile market similar to Washington D.C. where the state lottery runs the primary book. Other lawmakers want a more commercial focus mobile betting market similar to New Jersey.

While legal sports betting in New York is a thriving market, mobile betting would be a major addition to N.Y. Lawmakers expect mobile betting to be a major addition to revenue and help N.Y. recover from the losses suffered due to COVID-19.

While a potential special session is an option, the most plausible scenario is that lawmakers do not vote on NY mobile betting until 2022.

News tags: Albany | Andrew Cuomo | Gary Pretlow | Joseph Addabbo | New Jersey | New York | New York State Gaming Commission