A New York online casino bill introduced in the House allows two sites per casino, which may mean 14 sites can eventually launch.
On Friday, state Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, introduced A3634. The bill that would legalize New York online casino gambling now sits in the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Racing and Wagering.
The proposed legislation would allow New York’s seven fully licensed retail casinos to partner with two online casino sites each. At the moment, four such casinos exist. A process is underway to add three more retail casinos in Downstate New York.
Meanwhile, US online gambling operators are eagerly awaiting New York legalizing online casino gambling because its 20 million residents have already made the Empire State the No. 1 revenue-generating state in online sports betting.
New York’s loudest online gambling legalization advocate believes online casino revenue will “eclipse” sportsbook dollars, said state Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., D-Ozone Park.
Addabbo and Pretlow tend to work together on legal gambling expansion efforts.
Illustrating that pattern, Pretlow introduced the companion bill on Friday to Addabbo’s proposed legislation to increase the number of New York online sportsbooks from nine to 16 by Jan. 31, 2025. That timing coincides with the ability to bet on the Super Bowl.
Like Addabbo’s S1962, Pretlow’s A3666 also reduces the current tax rate on sportsbooks from 51% to 25% once there are 15 or more sites.
DraftKings and FanDuel executives told lawmakers that they need to see that tax rate reduction as soon as possible, or they’ll have to reduce sportsbook quality in New York, they testified on Jan. 31 during a joint public hearing. Both executives then also urged New York legalize iGaming.
Last year’s effort to legalize online casino and poker gambling in New York stalled when lawmakers didn’t include the measure in the annual budget approved in April. Addabbo said then that the New York online casino bill might have been introduced too late – on Feb. 24, 2022. This year’s proposed legislation is in committee three weeks sooner.
Details of the New York Online Casino Bill
Pretlow’s online casino bill calls for a 25% tax rate on operators and a one-time $10 million fee. Retail casinos must pay a $2 million, one-time payment.
Problem gambling education and treatment funding in the New York online casino bill nearly doubles that of the sportsbook law. Pretlow outlines $11 million. Legal sports betting pays $6 million a year.
If New York becomes the newest legal US online casino gambling state, it could unseat Pennsylvania in revenue generation. During 2022, the Keystone State generated $1.67 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR). Bonus estimated New York could generate $1.2 to $1.5 billion yearly from online casinos, but that was assuming a 51% tax rate. While sportsbooks pay 51%, Pretlow proposed online casino operators be taxed at 25%.
What Bonus finds does hold true, regardless of the differences in tax rates between online casino and sports betting, is that full-feature states tend to see 70% of revenue from iGaming and 30% from sportsbooks.
From the launch date of Jan. 8, 2022, to Jan. 22, 2023, NY Sports Day reports that New York sportsbooks generated nearly $1.4 billion in GGR. Gov. Kathy C. Hochul said during its first year of operation, the mobile sports betting market filled state coffers with $909 million in tax revenue and license fees.
Meanwhile, there’s no movement on Pretlow’s bill to legalize online poker in New York.
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