After watching other nearby states legalize and profit from the regulation of sports betting, New York finally caught up this year and made sports betting legal across the state in January 2022. This means that online and offline sportsbooks are now free to operate, and there are already four live offerings available for bettors.
Staking on Sports Now Legal in New York
New York had been slow to act on the legalization of NY sports betting, with 17 other states beating them to it. However, in 2021, the state’s gaming commission finally set the wheels in motion for the regulation of gambling this year.
DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook, and BetRivers were the first sites to go live, and it’s reasonable to assume that there will be a huge number of sites for bettors to choose from when Super Bowl TKVII rolls around in February.
New York is home to millions of sports fans and a wide array of teams in different sports. With such a dense population and the fact that the state welcomes more than 260 million visitors each year, it has the potential to be the country’s biggest gambling market over the next decade. This will have a massive impact on the numerous franchises that compete in the region.
Yankee Stadium Likely to Have its Own Sportsbook
Owners of MLB franchises in the USA are excited by the prospect of being able to install their own sportsbooks attached to stadiums. That’s because the revenue generated from these businesses won’t be part of the MLB revenue-sharing system. Instead, the funds can be channeled back into the teams to boost them further.
Revenue sharing was brought about in MLB to level the playing field and help all franchises compete on an even footing. Another scheme to help with this is the competitive balance tax, which means that teams can’t spend over a certain amount on their roster. It helps to keep the richest teams like the Yankees in check and stops them from drifting too far ahead of the chasing pack.
Earning revenue from a sportsbook wouldn’t be able to breach any of these rules, but it could be used to improve the infrastructure of the franchise elsewhere and act as a safety net in case there are any lost profits. The earnings from the sportsbook, for example, could be used to pay player salaries for the Yankees if they stayed within the CBT rules.
According to Forbes, ballparks in states where gambling is legal are almost certainly all going to have sportsbooks attached to them soon. No savvy MLB owner is going to sit back and watch their rivals take advantage of this extra revenue stream without jumping on it themselves. Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner already plans to install a sportsbook at Yankee Stadium, following in the footsteps of the Chicago Cubs where plans are in place for a two-story onsite betting shop.
These business ventures are still in their early stages, though, and there will be hoops for MLB owners to jump through before they can start building. However, the new legislation has paved the way for this possibility, and it’s more of a question of when this will happen, rather than if.
New York City Could Get a Major Boost
Something that will excite New York City FC is the fact that soccer is the sport that attracts the most wagering in the world. Indeed, it accounts for around 70 percent of all sports betting worldwide. The franchise was only established eight years ago, making it one of the youngest sides in the MLS.
Technically, this is the only soccer team based in New York, with the New York Red Bulls playing their home games in Harrison, New Jersey. The recent success of the team has boosted NY’s reputation in soccer, and that looks set to continue.
New York City is the reigning MLS Cup champion, but the side owned by the City Football Group has never picked up a division title. Currently, The Pigeons are only the seventh-most valuable franchise in the league, and they have the ninth-largest fanbase out of all the sides in the country.
With more betting opportunities in and around the stadium, this should help increase revenue and propel New York’s rise to the top of the soccer ladder in the country. New York’s sister club, Manchester City, is one of the most staked on teams in soccer, and the same could happen for the Big Apple-based franchise.
New York state is home to a multitude of other franchises from all the major sports leagues, with the New York Knicks, Buffalo Bills, and New York Mets all based in the region.
If the owners of these franchises follow in the footsteps of the Yankees’ major shareholders and install sportsbooks on-site or nearby, they could all stand to profit massively over the next few years. This would, in turn, put them at an advantage over franchises in states where sports betting has not yet been legalized.
The legalization of sports betting in New York is going to have a hugely positive effect on the state. Many of the franchises based here will profit, and it could bring a greater number of fans from other states and countries as well.
