? Online Gambling NY

Some of the NY online sportsbook brands that offer betting on sports. New York online casino players are waiting for good news on legalized online casinos.

New York online gambling market consists of sports betting, DFS, and social casinos. After passing a mobile sports betting law, residents have been able to place sports bets since January 8, 2022. However, the licensing process limited options to nine, and the high tax rates of 51% reduced bonuses and promotions.

No online gambling law has been passed for legal online casinos in New York, but since New Jersey is taking a significant amount of New York tax dollars via online casinos, some are hoping New York online casino legislation as well. For now, New York casino players have to visit New York casinos in person or check out sweepstakes casinos.

? New York Sports Betting

Sports betting sites did not welcome the New York sports betting bill with open arms, but several operators applied for a license. Two bids with a combined total of nine operators and the platform provider Kambi won the licenses and launched their betting sites. Sports betting online is overseen by New York State Gaming Commission. The following NY mobile betting operators are now live with their mobile sportsbooks.

Mobile Sports Betting Legalization

Former Governor Cuomo agreed to support NY sports betting legislation in early 2021 after months of resistance, but the end result was not the most progressive out of the online gambling states. Operators must partner with one of four commercial casinos to support their servers and pay the casinos $5 million annually and $25 million licensing fee.

The tax on betting revenue is 51%, which stands head and shoulders above other states. The state received several applications and chose the major players; New York bettors can choose from nine legal sportsbooks.

Retail Sports Betting

New York residents can visit several land-based casinos which host sportsbooks in addition to betting online. Most casinos offer a retail sportsbook and many have existing relationships with the online providers. Some casinos that offer retail betting are Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, Resorts World Catskills, Rivers Casino & Resort, Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, and the Yellow Brick Road Casino.

New York has both online and retail sports betting.

? New York Online Casinos

Retail casinos in New York are legal, and there have been attempts to legalize real money online casino games. Online gaming could include NY online casino operators in the future like in neighboring state NJ.

Some of the legal NY sports betting apps also run the best online casinos, so we hope lawmakers realize an online casino gaming industry soon.

A survey from early 2024 indicated that there is plenty of interest among the public for New York online gambling expansion, meaning New York online casinos could be launching soon.

Brick and Mortar Casinos in NY

There are several retail casinos, as well as racinos, in the state of New York. While all offer slots, some also offer retail sportsbooks, table games, and poker. Since online casino games for real money aren’t legal, people wishing to play games need to travel to one of the following locations in upstate New York.

New York Social Casinos

If you can’t be bothered to head out to the Garden State to play online, you can play casino style games on sweepstakes sites. Gambling laws don’t directly impact social casinos since you don’t need to spend any money to play, although you can purchase gold coins on social casinos and use them to play slot games and table games.

Social casinos that offer sweepstakes also offer cash prizes which you can claim once you have enough sweeps coins. You can’t buy sweeps coins, but you can get more of them with a gold coins purchase; you also get more from daily login bonuses and specific slot games and table games from the game selection that vary on each social casino.

Casino Games

Although none of the best online casinos work yet in New York as legal casino sites, below are the options we might see when New York state legislators legalize online casinos. The best social casinos offer table games, slots and even live dealer games to New York online casino players, but you don’t win real money when you play online on these New York online casinos.

• Online slots (incl. progressive jackpots & penny slots)
• Online blackjack (incl. First Person & classic blackjack)
• Live dealer games (blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps)
• Mississippi Stud
• Texas Hold’em
• Online roulette (incl. Lightning & American roulette)
• Video poker games

Poker

Online poker, like the online casino niche, is not yet legal in New York. Eight casinos offer a live poker room in New York, including del Lago Resort & Casino and Turning Stone Resort & Casino. That is hardly enough for avid poker fans. We hope that the state legislature reconsiders and allows a poker room online in New York.

New York State, with nearly 20 million people, could become one of America’s best casino markets.

? Horse Racing

Online horse betting is completely legal in New York. You can participate in simulcast betting at several racinos. There are some famous horse races and race tracks like the Belmont Park where the Belmont Stakes is raced as a part of the Triple Crown, and the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. They even have their own horse betting platform NYRA (New York Racing Association). Platforms like TwinSpires and TVG Racebook have access to the NY horse betting market as well.

? Daily Fantasy Sports

DFS are also operational in New York, but the journey has been rocky. After a year-long legal battle between the state and the daily fantasy sports industry’s largest operators, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law on August 3, 2016, allowing DFS sites to serve New Yorkers.

The law was then challenged in multiple levels of the court system, but in 2022 a clear resolution was reached. DFS sites have been able operate during this whole time. With the legalization of the New York mobile betting operation, fantasy sports are also here to stay.

? Timeline for NY Sports Wagering

New York now has legal online sports betting, as the first operators launched in early January 2022. Residents can start to gamble online on their favorite books now. State legislators wasted no time in their pursuit of legal sports betting in New York and handed out 9 betting license approvals in 2021.

• February 26, 2024: Fanatics replaces PointsBet in New York.
• February 13, 2024: ESPN Bet plans to replace WynnBET after PENN Entertainment releases plan to buy the license.
• January 2024: A survey says majority of New Yorkers across many demographics would legalize online casinos to gain tax revenue for the state.
• Summer 2023: PointsBet’s U.S. business is purchased by Fanatics, who failed originally to get a license for the market; Sen Addabbo Jr. says he’s going to pursue legalizing New York online casinos again.
• July 7, 2022: Bally Bet also launches in NY.
• March 3, 2022: Resorts World goes live.
• February 4, 2022: WynnBET goes live; only two New York sportsbooks are waiting to launch online.
• January 24, 2022: PointsBet launches next with their gambling site; six sportsbooks are now open. WynnBET is for sale at $500 million, leaving their NY launch up in the air.
• January 17, 2022: BetMGM launch their sportsbook site in New York on Saturday; the first weekend of betting in NY sets records even with high tax rates.
• January 8, 2022: Four sportsbooks (Caesars, FanDuel, BetRivers, and DraftKings) launch their betting apps and the New York online sports betting market at 9 A.M. The other NY sportsbooks will be approved for launch as they fulfill the requirements.
• Winter 2021: Approved operators begin to prepare to launch their sportsbooks in the biggest market in the US during the NFL playoffs; Sen. Addabbo hopes for a uniform start date.
• November 2021: The two winning bids are announced; FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM & Bally Bet, as well as Kambi, Caesars, Resorts World, PointsBet, WynnBET, & BetRivers are approved for NY online sports betting. Operators like FOX Bet and Barstool Sportsbook did not receive a license.
• October 2021: The New York Gaming Commission releases a taxation plan that must be approved by operators looking to be licensed; with 5 sportsbooks, the tax rate would be 64%.
• August 2021: The New York State Gaming Commission announces the six bids it received for betting licenses. All major sportsbook operators have applied to one of the biggest markets in the U.S.
• April 2021: Gov. Cuomo signs the sports betting bill into law. Operators who wish to join the NY market must cough up $25 million for license fees, $5 million for server housing at one of the retail casinos, and up to 51% of their revenues as tax to the state.
• March 2021: New York’s State Assembly releases proposed New York state budget that includes new legislation on sports wagering for tax revenue.
• January 2021: Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces he will include annual revenue from mobile betting into his state budget proposals, in a stunning reversal of his previous statements on making online gambling legal. Online casino gaming is not mentioned. State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow present matching bills S 1183 and A 1257 to the General Assembly to begin legislating online wagering.
• June 2019: Retail sports betting begins in New York.
• May 2018: The US Supreme Court effectively ends the federal ban on gambling online.
• August 2016: DFS is legalized by the New York legislature, but legal action is taken in multiple courts.
• 1967: The state lottery begins selling lottery tickets, the first form of gambling in New York.

Last updated: 07/25/2024