Key Senator On NY Online Sports Betting: ‘We Have To Be Up And Running By The Super Bowl’

New York state senator Joseph Addabbo still has Super Bowl LVI in his sights.

Ever the optimist, Addabbo remains hopeful that legal NY online sports betting will be live by Super Bowl Sunday in February of next year.

Urgency for NY betting online

“We have to be up and running by the Super Bowl,” Addabbo said with urgency in his voice at an upstate gaming conference Tuesday. That is the key date. Because that is the moneymaker.”

Of course, there are still some hurdles. Final bids for NY mobile sports betting were submitted earlier this month. Formal presentations of those bids will begin on Sept. 1. Winners are expected to be chosen by Dec. 6.

Last year’s Super Bowl was projected to bring in $4.3 billion from 23.2 million bets, according to American Gaming Association research.

New York wants in on that action in 2024. But nothing is finalized yet.

NY’s bad plan?

Lawmakers wanted NY mobile sports betting to be an open competition. But now-outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided to limit the amount of operators while seeking a tax rate of at least 50 percent in legalizing online gambling.

“You want my honest, unbiased opinion?” NY assemblyman Gary Pretlow said at the conference. “The main difference (between our bill and Cuomo’s) is the difference between heaven and hell.”

But when asked if there would be any changes coming to the bill, Pretlow responded: “No, no.”

“The old bill is perfect,” Pretlow continued, jokingly. “What we have to do is make the new bill disappear.”

Whether NY can meet the Cuomo administration’s projection of $500 million in revenue is still to be determined, Pretlow cautioned. Addabbo reiterated he doesn’t think Cuomo’s resignation will impact the process.

Tioga Downs Resort Casino owner Jeff Gural predicts that in two years operators will ask the state to lower the tax rate.

“I don’t think they did anything right,” said Gural, who has made no secret of his displeasure over the process. “They got everything wrong.”