With the New York state legislature officially adjourned for the year, the state of online gambling is left hanging in the balance until next year. That’s not to say progress wasn’t made as legislators were finally able to get sports betting legislation onto the desk of Governor Andrew Cuomo where the bill was signed, putting New York sports betting licensees in position to start accepting sports wagers by the beginning of the NFL season in August.
Unfortunately, the fate of a proposed online and mobile sports gambling bill and yet another online poker and casino bill met with a different fate. Without resolution, the aforementioned bills were left to die in committee, which will necessitate the introduction of new bills when the legislature convenes next year. That’s correct. Any online gamblers from New York will likely have to wait until the 2nd quarter of 2020 before they might get the opportunity to do what they love, gamble online and play casino games from places like the best Baccarat websites.
The Issues at Hand
To be clear, the fate of online gambling in the state of New York has lacked any real momentum since such bills were first introduced in 2017. If interested parties are wondering why such legislation keeps hitting the proverbial wall, there are several issues that appear to be standing in the way.
First and foremost, it’s not clear if the state’s constitution will allow for online gambling. If that’s indeed the case, the assembly would first have to introduce and pass an amendment to the constitution in order to avoid any possible ligation from outside interest like Tribal casinos. Even if the legislature were to undertake this process, it’s not clear if they could get both the amendment and online gambling legislation passed in the first six months of next year.
If the legislature was able to push through the amendment, there’s still a possible issue with Governor Cuomo’s disdain for any form of online gambling. While the online poker community has been lobbying for consideration from the state for year, Cuomo has frequently stepped in with a reluctance to bite. That’s probably why the assembly let the bill die this time around.
The Ensuing Battle
It’s clear both opponents and proponents of online gambling are ready to dig in when the assembly resumes business. Opponents, including Cuomo, are not yet convince such legislation is going to have a material effect on gambling related tax revenues. There’s also this overriding issue of appeasing the Tribal communities that are seeing its piece of the gambling revenue pie shrink with every new law.
Proponents have a very different view. Using a year’s worth of data from New Jersey, there’s a clear indication that gamblers want to gamble online and with their mobile devices. The fact is New Jersey’s gambling revenues from mobile and online gambling options are jumping off the chart. This is obviously the button proponents are going to need to be pushing next year.
New York poker players, sport bettors and casino players have been patiently waiting for years. Now could well be the time to get everything in place while the topic is hot.
