New York online sportsbooks could nearly double by 2025, if state Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. succeeds. The current nine will be joined by seven more, bringing the total to 16 by Jan. 31, 2025, Addabbo proposes in legislation he introduced today.
Addabbo, D-Ozone Park, sponsored S1962. After the chairman of the New York State Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee introduced the proposed legislation, Senators referred it to his committee.
The 6-page bill suggests amending state gambling law to direct the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) as so:
The commission shall award no fewer than fourteen mobile sports wagering licenses by January thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four, and no fewer than sixteen by January thirty-first, two thousand twenty-five.
The expansions seem timed to predate each year’s Super Bowl.
On Jan. 8, 2022, the New York online sports betting marketplace launched with nine sportsbooks. According to NY Sports Day, those operators generated $665,951,556 in tax revenue in exactly one year.
What those sportsbook operators will likely want to know is whether Addabbo’s bill reduces the 51% tax rate that brought that level of revenue into state coffers. If the bill remains as written, the answer is “yes.”
Addabbo’s bill outlines the following New York online sportsbook tax rates:
- Nine operators (51%)
- 10 to 12 operators (50%)
- 13 to 14 operators (35%)
- 15 or more operators (25%)
A one-time $25 million licensing fee for mobile sports betting platform providers doubles to $50 million for “each operator authorized to conduct mobile sports wagering on a [licensed] platform.”
Addabbo didn’t immediately return a request for comment from Bonus about the bill.
New York Online Sportsbooks, Poker Before Casino Bill
New York online sportsbooks and online poker gambling bills entering committees today in the New York State Legislature were a bit of a surprise. That’s because it seemed New York online casino legalization was Addabbo’s 2023 priority.
Yet Addabbo introduced the sports betting bill in the Senate, and an Assemblyman sponsored an online poker bill. State Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, introduced an online poker bill today.
However, it’s possible Addabbo is still laying the groundwork for online casino and poker legislation so that more colleagues vote for a bill once it’s proposed. The bill he sponsored last year failed to make it into the state budget in April. He’d told Bonus that bills were more likely to become law if they were included in the New York budget.
Addabbo recently told Bonus that legal New York online casino gambling will far outpace sports betting tax revenue. However, it must first be proposed before it can be approved and signed into law.
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