New York Faces Uphill Battle for Online Casino Legalization

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00:00Okay, should be no surprise that one of the senators in New York, Joe Adabo, wants to

00:05get this online gambling going, online casino, excuse me, casino wagering going.

00:12It's available in some states, others not.

00:14There's a lot of hesitancy though behind this, Sam, and it seems to me that no matter how

00:18hard anybody pushes, they're going to take a very close look as to what the responsible

00:24gaming aspects of this, what it would be before they get it legalized.

00:29Yeah, we've talked a bit on this show recently about some positive momentum in a few states

00:33like Maryland.

00:34Obviously, a couple of states have online casino already, but it's really kind of been

00:38an uphill battle for these sports books to get done.

00:41This is, again, iGaming, Online Blackjack, the stuff that really makes the money for

00:46these gambling companies.

00:47It's kind of all about getting everyone used to sports betting, accustomed to sports betting,

00:51and then introduce online casino to them.

00:55In New York, it's really been a tough go.

00:58Like you mentioned, Adabo introduces a bill every year.

01:01He's had trouble getting support in the legislature.

01:03He's expected to introduce a bill or actually just introduced a bill again this year, which

01:08would address it.

01:09But the newly appointed chair of the New York Assembly of Racing and Wagering came out this

01:14week and did an interview saying that she just doesn't think the state is ready for

01:18that.

01:19Now, whether that means that she doesn't think she can get all the lawmakers on board, whether

01:22she personally doesn't think that it's time to do online casino and we still need to move

01:27in a direction as a society, she didn't get into all that.

01:30But she said basically it's not looking great this year and that the priorities for her

01:35and the legislature, if they do anything with gaming, are going to be on creating more responsible

01:40gaming protections around online sports betting, which they've already had for a few years.

01:45She said no company has approached her yet about the 51% sports betting tax rate, which

01:51obviously has been very controversial in the state.

01:54So it's not looking great for online casino in New York.

01:56Again, this is a huge state that the sportsbooks would love to have, and they certainly would

02:01love to have online casino under a much lower tax rate than sports betting, which we've

02:06seen them complain about over and over again.

02:10But it's not looking great for the legislature.

02:11We'll have to see if anything shakes out again.

02:13It's very early.

02:14But the fact that the newly appointed head of the Racing and Gaming Commission basically

02:18dismissed it through cold water on it says maybe try your luck in other state sportsbooks

02:23or maybe pack it up and try again next year.