Mobile sports betting could launch in New York as soon as mid-January. The state legislators are determined to see online sportsbooks and mobile apps go live in time for Super Bowl, which is traditionally the most popular sports event in the United States.
However, we could see them launching a few weeks earlier than expected, which would mean that New Yorkers could be able to place sports bets on the 2021-22 NFL Playoffs as well.
Senator Addabbo Expects NY Betting Apps to Launch in January
There is some good news for sports betting fans from New York. According to State Senator Joseph Addabbo, mobile sports betting could go live in the Empire State a few weeks before the previously-set deadline.
The initial plan was to kick off online/mobile betting in NY just in time for Super Bowl LVI, which is scheduled for February 13, 2022. However, Senator Addabbo thinks there are no obstacles to doing it sooner.
He believes that we could see New York sportsbooks launching their betting apps in the second or third week of January. If this proves true, it would mean that New Yorkers would be able to bet on NFL Playoffs, which start with the Wild Card on January 15.
In addition to betting on the NFL games, New York bettors will also be able to bet on the NBA, MLS, NHL, as well as collegiate events. They will also be able to put their money on events taking place outside the United States, such as the 2022 Australian Open, for example.
The Road to Mobile Betting in NY
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 or PASPA was an act that made sports betting illegal throughout the United States, with a couple of exceptions. The state of New York wasn’t one of them. Instead, the state was a sports betting-free zone for more than 25 years.
Then, in 2017, New York’s neighbor state New Jersey filed a complaint against the law with the US Supreme Court. Fast-forward to May 2018 and the Court has put an end to the PASPA chapter in the history of the US gaming business. From that moment, each individual state became eligible to decide the legality of sports betting on its own.
At first, New York made this gaming activity legal only in land-based venues. Only existing casinos in Upstate New York were allowed to start running sportsbook operations.
Two years later, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, NY lawmakers started thinking about making online/mobile sports betting legal. They realized that the legalization would bring a large amount of money into the state’s piggy bank. Therefore, they decided to make it legal, setting the sportsbook tax rate to 51%.
They also decided to keep the number of online NY sportsbooks limited. Rather than going with a free-market approach, they decided to give the operating license only to nine sportsbooks, namely:
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
- BetMGM
- Caesars Sportsbook
- Resorts World
- PointsBet
- WynnBET
- Bally Bet
Those sportsbooks will be allowed to launch their sports betting platforms in January 2022 if everything goes according to plan.
