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The sports book at the Rivers Casino opened to the public just before 10:30 a.m. after a ceremony featuring state and local officials. A 2013 amendment to the State Constitution legalized Las Vegas-style commercial casinos in New York, and an accompanying law that year authorized Sports Betting should it ever be federally allowed.
A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down federal prohibitions on Sports Betting. Sixteen other states and the District of Columbia have legalized Sports Betting, according to Daniel Wallach, a Florida attorney whose clients include online gaming companies.
In New York, gambling on almost all forms of professional sports matches is permitted but bettors may not wager on teams of college athletes from the state or on collegiate sporting events that take place here.
But wagers must be placed in person at one of the state’s four commercial casinos or at facilities run by the Mohawk, Seneca and Oneida Indian nations. Unlike New Jersey, wagers cannot be placed on a computer or mobile device.
State Sen. Joe Addabbo, a Democrat from Queens, sponsored a bill that passed the Senate last month and would have allowed mobile betting. It never came up for a vote in the state Assembly.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has said that online betting cannot be authorized with a new law, but requires a change to the State Constitution. That process cannot be completed until 2021 at the earliest.
In a speech Tuesday, Mr. Addabbo said New York casinos sometimes felt like a “disabled car on the shoulder of the roadway as other states pass us by in the left lane.”
“We are now in the right lane, at least,” he said.
Mr. Wallach said that the vast majority of sports wagering is happening through mobile platforms, and that New York City residents have been crossing the Hudson River to New Jersey to place their bets.
Since the closest commercial casino to New York City and Long Island is in the Catskill Mountains, Mr. Wallach predicted the new sports books wouldn’t stop New Yorkers from wagering online in illegal markets or traveling to New Jersey.
“It’s not even a half measure,” he said.
According to statistics released last week by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, people placed $2 billion of sports wagers in the Garden State during the first six months of the year. Around 80% of that figure came from online betting.
Financial analysts said during a state Senate hearing this year that mobile-betting companies could make up to $1 billion a year in New York as the market matures. That could translate into around $100 million in state tax revenue, depending on what rate lawmakers set.
Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, said he would keep pushing to legalize mobile Sports Betting when the Legislature reconvenes in January. He placed one of the first wagers at the casino, $20 on the Seattle Mariners, at 10:24 a.m.
Greg Carlin, CEO of Rush Street Gaming, which owns Rivers Casino, said the new attraction would draw a new clientele to the facility. It is located on the site of a former locomotive factory along the Mohawk River, about a three-hour drive from New York City.
“You can see the new faces,” Mr. Carlin said in an interview. A half-dozen betting kiosks are located next to a wall-size LCD screen, ringed by easy chairs and a full bar, that he said would attract bettors to watch games.
The sports book at the Rivers Casino opened to the public just before 10:30 a.m. after a ceremony featuring state and local officials. A 2013 amendment to the State Constitution legalized Las Vegas-style commercial casinos in New York, and an accompanying law that year authorized Sports Betting should it ever be federally allowed.
A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down federal prohibitions on Sports Betting. Sixteen other states and the District of Columbia have legalized Sports Betting, according to Daniel Wallach, a Florida attorney whose clients include online gaming companies.
In New York, gambling on almost all forms of professional sports matches is permitted but bettors may not wager on teams of college athletes from the state or on collegiate sporting events that take place here.
But wagers must be placed in person at one of the state’s four commercial casinos or at facilities run by the Mohawk, Seneca and Oneida Indian nations. Unlike New Jersey, wagers cannot be placed on a computer or mobile device.
State Sen. Joe Addabbo, a Democrat from Queens, sponsored a bill that passed the Senate last month and would have allowed mobile betting. It never came up for a vote in the state Assembly.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has said that online betting cannot be authorized with a new law, but requires a change to the State Constitution. That process cannot be completed until 2021 at the earliest.
In a speech Tuesday, Mr. Addabbo said New York casinos sometimes felt like a “disabled car on the shoulder of the roadway as other states pass us by in the left lane.”
“We are now in the right lane, at least,” he said.
Mr. Wallach said that the vast majority of sports wagering is happening through mobile platforms, and that New York City residents have been crossing the Hudson River to New Jersey to place their bets.
Since the closest commercial casino to New York City and Long Island is in the Catskill Mountains, Mr. Wallach predicted the new sports books wouldn’t stop New Yorkers from wagering online in illegal markets or traveling to New Jersey.
“It’s not even a half measure,” he said.
According to statistics released last week by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, people placed $2 billion of sports wagers in the Garden State during the first six months of the year. Around 80% of that figure came from online betting.
Financial analysts said during a state Senate hearing this year that mobile-betting companies could make up to $1 billion a year in New York as the market matures. That could translate into around $100 million in state tax revenue, depending on what rate lawmakers set.
Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, said he would keep pushing to legalize mobile Sports Betting when the Legislature reconvenes in January. He placed one of the first wagers at the casino, $20 on the Seattle Mariners, at 10:24 a.m.
Greg Carlin, CEO of Rush Street Gaming, which owns Rivers Casino, said the new attraction would draw a new clientele to the facility. It is located on the site of a former locomotive factory along the Mohawk River, about a three-hour drive from New York City.
“You can see the new faces,” Mr. Carlin said in an interview. A half-dozen betting kiosks are located next to a wall-size LCD screen, ringed by easy chairs and a full bar, that he said would attract bettors to watch games.
