New York Legislature Sets Budget Mobile Wagering Provisions

The mobile sports betting legalization effort in New York is gaining speed after both the Assembly and Senate moved with their respective budgets featuring sports betting provisions.

Budget Provisions as per A1257 and S1183

Late Saturday, the Assembly published its Budget Proposal for 2021-2022, including further details regarding licensing fees and taxes for mobile sports betting operators as per the provisions of A1257, the sports betting bill put forth by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow in January.

On Sunday, following on the actions of the Assembly, the Senate published its one-house budget featuring similar mobile sports wagering provisions, as per bill S1183 sponsored by Sen. Joseph Addabbo. Both bills which have similar points and are far from being the finished article passed their respective committees in January.

According to the provisions featuring in both Assembly and Senate budget proposals, the 4 commercial and 3 tribal casino operators would be allowed to partner with 2 mobile sports betting companies each to fill the total of 14 mobile wagering skins.

Casino Expansion

The budget put forth by the Senate implies the introduction of 3 new casinos, respectively 6 additional mobile wagering licenses. Casino licenses would go for a minimum of $500 million no later than 2023 looking to add $1.5 billion for the 2022 state budget.

The 5-year mobile sports betting license will be paid upfront and each mobile sportsbook will have to fork out a $12 million license fee, while mobile sports wagering will be taxed at 12% applied to gross gaming revenue (GGR).

There are also provisions for off-track betting facilities, horse racetracks, professional sports stadia and arenas which will be allowed to offer mobile sports betting by hosting mobile betting kiosks.

These venues will have to wait before introducing the kiosks, 12 months for any tracks or the Resorts World casino at Aqueduct Park, and 20 months for stadia and arenas with a minimum capacity of 15,000 seats, after the budget approval.

Official League Data

Mobile sports betting operators will also have to bear fees to acquire official sports league data which will be required to settle all in-play bets and could be required for tier 3 bets as well. In addition, a royalty fee of 0.2% of sports betting handle on a specific league will be paid to US sports leagues’ governing bodies.

All these details in terms of fees, taxes, number of skins, and others will undergo a period of negotiations until the final date for budget approval, April 1, and may not remain the same, but they set up a common ground between both chambers of the legislature.

Both budget proposals are far from the lottery-style mobile sports betting model Gov. Cuomo suggested, but the governor’s office did not provide further details regarding his proposal and gave the chance for both chambers to take the initiative.