Legislation
US – Revised New York bill creates ‘affiliate’ betting options
By Phil - 10 June 2019
A revised bill submitted by New York State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who chairs the Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, is hoping to allow betting at Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center.
The revision creates the concept of an ‘affiliate’ to extend sports betting to other satellite locations throughout New York State where the upstate casinos would offer self-service mobile betting kiosks that would be ‘owned and operated by the casino,’ and connected via the internet to the casino’s server. This would circumnavigate laws that deem bets must be placed ‘at’ the casino for purposes of satisfying New York’s Constitution.
Senator Addabbo said: “The way I see it, this is a puzzle that the pieces are still missing. We need to move forward today in order to keep this momentum going, but the bottom line is this may not be the last version of the bill. It all depends on what direction the governor wants to take. I’m hopeful that in the end, we have all the pieces in place and it forms a perfect, inclusionary picture where we have now maximised our potential revenue-wise, educational-funding-wise, job-security- and job-creation-wise, and included everyone – including the OTBs, NYRAs, the horse racing machine, everything else. We’re not there yet.”
Daniel Wallach, co-founder of the Sports Wagering & Integrity Program at the University of New Hampshire Law School., said: “I think this is a win-win for New York City. In a sports stadium all along the lines of Yankee Stadium, you could have 40, 50,000 people – all of whom are your target audience for sports betting, there are sports enthusiasts – and I think you’ll capture a much higher amount of revenue.”
The state’s Gaming Commission is scheduled to vote today. Betting would be allowed at Resorts World Catskills in Monticello, Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady, Tioga Downs in the Southern Tier and Del Lago Resort and Casino in the Finger Lakes with the summer earmarked as a likely launch date.
Betting could also be allowed in lounges at full-service casinos operated in the state by the Oneida, Seneca and Akwesasne Mohawk Indian nations.
