New York State has watched the gambling industry boom in its neighboring regions and has been slow to act on this growing craze. Until recently, New York bettors have only been able to wager in person at a select few brick-and-mortar establishments. This is all about to change, though, as it was recently announced that mobile sports betting has been legalized.
Even though staking on sports online is now possible in the eyes of the law, bettors may have to wait a few months to place their first bets. This is because the major providers aren’t ready to go live yet. The industry is expected to be up and running in time for the USA’s biggest betting event of the year: the Super Bowl in February.
New York Finally Legalizes Sports Betting by Phone
In early November this year, the New York State Gaming Commission announced that it had approved licenses for two coalitions to set up sportsbooks. These groups were made up of some of the best-known names in the betting industry.
The first was a collaboration of Wynn Interactive alongside Caesars Sportsbook, Rush Street and Resorts World, while the second was a team-up of FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Bally Interactive. This is a major leap forward for the betting industry in NYC, but people who want to stake on sports online will still have to wait a while before they can start wagering. Although the industry is legal now, betting sites will have to undergo some technical testing and gain approval before they can go live.
Experts and analysts have put a timeframe of around four months on this, expecting most sites to be ready in time for the Super Bowl in February. The notable thing about the new legislation is that it will allow the major brands with the licenses to gain a monopoly. This has famously upset one big name in the industry. Jay-Z had joined forces with a couple of companies to bid for a license, but his request was declined.
The Move has Been a Long Time Coming
Most would agree that New York has been slow on the uptake and has stood relatively still while a massive industry has risen to gargantuan size around it. The government realizes now that there is a lot of money to be made from online gambling, after seeing its success in neighboring states. Residents of the state have been pushing for it for some time as well, and they have finally received what they’d hoped for.
New Jersey is setting the benchmark when it comes to online gambling in the USA, and betting online has been legal there since 2018. The state is now considered to be the USA’s number one for sports betting, and at the end of 2020, it posted the biggest numbers in terms of revenue. A truly shocking figure is that in terms of wagers placed, NJ outshone Nevada by over $1.5 billion. This incredible figure may have been the final push that forced NY lawmakers to act.
In the three years since New Jersey legalized online sports betting, its revenue has increased at an astonishing rate. In 2018, the industry brought in a total of $1.2 billion. This rose to $4.5 billion in 2019, and then a whopping $6 billion and change in 2020. It has earned a total of more than $100 million in state tax revenue.
Other states around New York have flourished in recent times as well. Pennsylvania has allowed mobile sports betting for the last three years, and the state imposes a staggering 36% tax on betting revenue. Meanwhile, Connecticut moved to legitimize the industry this year and will be hoping to rake in similar huge sums to the states in which gambling is already well established.
It’s clear that this move towards making online sports betting possible has been a long time coming. The success of other locations and the continued growth of the overall industry has been impossible to ignore.
Betting Could be Possible for Super Bowl in February
The Super Bowl is already the greatest betting event in the American sports calendar, and it is set to get even bigger. It is estimated that just over 23 million Americans currently wager on the Super Bowl, but that number is likely to increase tenfold as gambling becomes more accessible across the country.
It will now be a mad dash for betting sites to get set up in New York in time to offer Super Bowl markets in February. Operators know that if they can get recognized first, they could steal a march on their rivals.
They will also hope to take advantage of bettors staking on outright markets in the lead-up to the event. Until the latter stages of the season, there are often a variety of teams in contention to make it to the paramount game. This gives bettors a lot to speculate on.
From a bettor’s perspective, there are likely to be some hot offers at sportsbooks marketing themselves to New Yorkers. These sites will want to attract as many bettors as possible in the early stages, and they tend to do this by offering free bets and deposit match bonuses. There could also be plenty of price boosts on the Super Bowl and other major events, so it’s wise for gamblers to watch out for these. The news that New York has now legalized betting by phone will come as no surprise to many, as it has been touted for some time. What is shocking is how long it has taken. Bettors should finally be able to stake on games in the state soon, though, with the Super Bowl set to be huge next yea
