Perhaps in time for the Super Bowl next February, New Yorkers will be able to place sports bets on their phones and laptops, opening up a large stream of revenue for the state.

Mobile sports wagering is expected to be legal by early next year, meaning New Yorkers will be able to place bets on all kinds of sporting events, including professional and college games. 

“I’m hopeful, I remain optimistic that we will place our first mobile sports bet in New York by early January, certainly by the Super Bowl,” said State Senator Joe Addabbo. “And yes, anywhere in New York. That is the idea.”

What You Need To Know

  • Mobile sports wagering could be legal in New York State by January

  • While New York lags behind neighboring states, a 51% tax rate could enable New York to catch up quickly

  • One key supporter says he is disappointed more wasn't done to give licenses to minority-owned companies

Sports wagering was approved earlier this year by lawmakers as part of the state budget. And while New York is behind neighboring states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania, supporters say the size of the market here could easily enable the state to catch up quickly.

Revenue from wagering will be taxed at a whopping 51%, which some in the industry believe is unsustainable, but it should still generate hundreds of millions of dollars for New York State. 

“Early projections are, the fact that we will look at $500 million,” Addabbo said. “Some industry experts say $1 billion. And mostly all of that goes to education, which is great. We will have a certain segment of jobs that will be created. We will have some revenue from that, of course, as well.”

Some of the biggest beneficiaries stand to be companies like Draftkings and FanDuel, two of the largest providers of mobile betting in the nation. 

A spokesperson for DraftKings said, “Thank you to the New York State Gaming Commission for selecting DraftKings as a sports betting operator. We appreciate the efforts of Governor Hochul, Senator Addabbo and Assemblyman Pretlow and look forward to bringing our top-ranked DraftKings mobile and online Sportsbook to the millions of sports fans in the state.”

Gary Pretlow, chair of the Assembly’s Racing and Wagering committee, said he believe more could have been done to include minority-owned businesses. 

“I’m kind of disappointed that there wasn’t more minority participation in the awarding of the contracts,” Pretlow said. “What we had originally done was all inclusive and everyone was happy about this. This is not as inclusive as I would like to have seen.”

The state is expected to award licenses for three downstate casinos in 2023. But some lawmakers are hopeful that they can move that up to this year, meaning there could be a full fledged casino in the five boroughs much sooner. Right now, Resorts World at aqueduct in Queens has no card games.