Sports betting is racing across America – it seems like more and more states legalize mobile sportsbook operations each year. But while states like Colorado and West Virginia have surged ahead and quickly launched mobile sportsbook markets, states like New York are lagging.
Let’s break down everything you need to know about New York sports betting circumstances now and explore how they may develop in the future. We’ll also go over some key sportsbooks to key your eye on when it’s time to register.
Several forms of online betting are already legal in New York. Daily fantasy sports, horse betting and greyhound betting are all legal within the state. Below is a list of operators based in the United States that already accept customers from New York. Online sports betting is not yet legal in New York, but this looks to be changing in the near future. For now, only DFS can be legally bet on online. The legal gambling age for gambling in New York is 18 years old, including for DFS. To play charity gaming, there is no age limit. In the wake of the scrapping of the PASPA in 2018, New York was finally free to establish its own regulations to that legalize sports betting and even online casino gaming. This was a great relief to the Yankees especially since New York City itself is home to 2 MLB teams, 2 NFL teams, 2 NHL teams, and 2 NBA teams.
Even before 2018, when the Supreme Court overturned the PAPSA, New York had legalized retail sports betting at its licensed brick-and-mortar casinos. Thus, New Yorkers have had several years to enjoy sports betting so long as they were willing to make a trip to one of the upstate and inland casino locations.
However, New York online sports betting legalization has lagged significantly. While Governor Andrew Cuomo and the rest of the state’s legislature are in serious talks concerning mobile sports betting at this time, any mobile sportsbook launch will likely be at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022 at the earliest.
Fortunately, recent developments in the sports betting legislation arena have given sports betting enthusiasts cause for hope. For example, January 12, 2021, saw Senator Joe Addabbo Jr. and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow release a pair of New York mobile sports betting bills titled S1183 and A1257, respectively.
Both of these bills were introduced once before throughout the 2019-2020 cycle. They stipulate several potential sports betting rules and regulations, such as the use of official league data for oddsmakers and a 12% tax rate statewide.
Furthermore, Cuomo has, as of January 6 of this year, stated that he supports online and mobile sports betting. He has also suggested that any future sports betting system be run by the state lottery.
Ultimately, all of these changes are likely due to the highly profitable gambling revenue enjoyed by nearby states like New Jersey. Due to the serious budget deficit the state of New York is experiencing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, government officials like Cuomo are reconsidering their formerly anti-gambling stances. It’s no secret that mobile sports betting is a big potential moneymaker.
Even with all this progress, nothing concrete has been decided on or voted on. Thus, it’ll likely still be at least several months at the earliest before sports betting legislation is legalized, let alone launched.
While New York hasn’t yet launched mobile sports betting or legalized the activity, we can still make some educated predictions about which sportsbooks will provide mobile apps once it’s possible. Many of these apps already have a presence in New York by offering retail sports betting at tribal casinos in the state.
Bet365 isn’t as well known as many other sportsbooks on this list, but it’s still a worthwhile app to check out since it’s been running in Europe for many years at this point. Thus, it offers good market depth and variety for both major American sports and most popular European sports, like soccer and rugby.
You’ll also benefit from a generous opening bonus worth up to $500 of site credit just by opening a new account and making an initial deposit. It’s one of the best apps overall for live streaming events as well, as the app typically streams thousands of games each year between major sports leagues.
BetRivers provides a smooth user experience thanks to its responsive app, which includes a “live right now” section you can check out. This lets you jump straight to active wagers regardless of league. Even better, the app lets you display your odds in fractional, or decimal, or traditional American formats depending on your preferences.
The app overall features good market depth and variety no matter what your favorite sports are. Regular promotions and a sterling opening bonus round out this app’s offerings.
Caesars’ mobile sportsbook also includes portals to online poker and casino activities (though these will not be legal in New York anytime soon in all likelihood). The sportsbook section of the app features well-marked buttons to virtual games, in-play betting, wager selections, and popular bets if you want to jump into the most trafficked betting pools.
The app also includes a great rewards program and a reasonable opening bonus just for signing up with a new account.
DraftKings offers an extremely robust and well-developed mobile app, with a streamlined user interface and mobile-only betting pools for its users. Even better, you can take advantage of live or in-play betting in conjunction with live streaming of your favorite games right from your mobile device’s screen.
The app offers tons of different ways to make deposits or withdraw your winnings and a very generous opening bonus.
FanDuel, like DraftKings, is very well known throughout the sports betting industry due to its presence in most legal states. It offers another intuitive mobile app experience, complete with a search bar, special game-day promotions, and a betting slip you can call up to alter the attributes of your wagers at the moment.
It has good market depth and variety and a phenomenal opening bonus, especially for players that like to bet big at the beginning of the season.
FoxBet is the official sportsbook of the Fox Sports network. As a result, players will be able to access real-time sports updates and news, alongside analysis from sports news experts, right from the mobile app’s user-friendly interface.
It’s also an app that’s great for its regular promotions, which include days where all players get extra site credit, boosted odds, or special wagering pools for different games or seasonal events. Consider checking this out if you’re already a Fox Sports news junkie and want to add sports betting to the mix.
PointsBet is a unique sportsbook in part thanks to its titular “pointsbetting” wager type, which you can only find here. It’s a kind of spread betting that offers high risk, high reward action for experienced sports bettors – all gamblers will win or lose proportionately based on how close their wager was to the outcome for a given bet.
It’s also a great app thanks to its mobile interface, which is almost identical to the desktop site (allowing players to swap back and forth quickly and easily). The app is generally user-friendly – for example, it includes a stop-loss control to prevent you from losing too much money too fast and fast load times in most cases.
William Hill is a lesser-known sportsbook that is still worth your time and money, partially because of its opening bonus that amounts to at least several wagers’ worth of free bets. Odds on this platform are updated in real-time and derived from official league data despite its European focus. Odds boosting events are pretty common throughout most sports seasons.
As an international sportsbook, William Hill offers excellent market depth for international sporting activities, like cricket, badminton, international soccer, and even bets when the Olympics come around. The mobile app itself has excellent user performance and a basic user interface that, while not being particularly fancy, gets the job done and is easy to read and navigate through.
As mentioned, many of the above sportsbooks are likely candidates for mobile sports betting licensure due to their existing partnerships with brick-and-mortar casinos run by Native American tribes.
Of these, DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRivers, Caesars, and Bet365 are likely to launch mobile sportsbook operations as soon as online sports betting is legalized. The operators already have some of the infrastructures in place to offer online sports betting quickly and easily – all they need is official licensure to get started.
Online sports betting is only ever legalized when geolocation technology is involved. In a nutshell, each licensed and regulated mobile sportsbook you install on a mobile device will also install a geolocation tracker widget.
This widget is always active when you have the sportsbook up on your phone. So only people within their state’s borders can place wagers or withdraw their winnings. When you step out of state boundaries, you’ll automatically be prevented from using most of the app’s functions.
The apps use wireless technology to sync with the greater sportsbook platform you can find on the Internet using desktop computers. This results in an identical sports betting experience (in terms of betting lines and odds) between mobile and desktop sportsbook platforms.
Because people love being able to place their favorite sports bets from the comfort of their couch or while on the go, mobile sports betting has become an industry necessity for any sportsbook that wants to compete. As a result, many of the sportsbooks expected to launch in New York in the coming months and years have mobile sports betting apps in addition to their desktop websites. These include:
While there are lots of different sportsbook apps you can potentially download, the process for doing so is usually straightforward. It’s a little different depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android device.
iPhone users must:
Android users must:
Once downloaded, you can move to the registration phase.
You have to register a sportsbook account to place wagers and make withdrawals on any winnings you earn overtime. Registration will require some pieces of personal information so the sportsbook operator can verify that you are who you say you are and that you reside within New York’s borders.
In most cases, sportsbook account registration requires information like your Social Security number, physical address, and date of birth (to make sure you are not underage). After providing all this information, you can usually fund your account and begin placing wagers immediately.
However, some states, such as Illinois, require you to finish the registration process by visiting a retail casino sportsbook. They check your ID and make sure your information is in order before your app allows you to place a wager.
It’s too soon to tell whether New York’s sportsbook legislation will require in-person registration or will allow sports bettors to utilize remote registration instead.
Remote registration simply allows you to finish registering for a mobile sportsbook without having to visit a retail casino. Most states that allow legal mobile sports betting provide this option. Time will tell whether New York joins them or becomes another state that requires in-person registration.
Practically all mobile sportsbooks set to launch in New York will include deposit bonuses or opening bonuses designed to draw in new players and give you a slight boost to your wagering power right off the bat. Opening bonuses are a great factor to consider when choosing between multiple sportsbooks.
There are a few main types of opening bonuses you’ll see again and again. These include:
There are a few other rare types of opening bonuses. But the most important thing to remember is to compare the bonuses against one another so you get the most value for your money when you open a new sportsbook account.
While all of these opening bonuses are great incentives to try out certain sportsbooks, they usually come with specific terms and conditions.
For example, most bonuses that award you with site credit will require you to play through that credit one or more times before you can withdraw any winnings earned from their wagers.
With a risk-free bet of up to $1,000, for instance, you’ll need to spend the site credit you get reimbursed with at least once across one or more wagers before you can withdraw that money.
This prevents people from abusing the bonus system.
Other opening bonuses may have time limits during which you must use the bonus or it disappears. This usually applies to free bets or no deposit bonuses. Most small free bets, for instance, must be used within seven days of opening your account.
While New York’s sports betting legislation is far from set in stone, you’ll likely be able to place wagers on all the same sports and leagues as you can in neighboring states. This includes the majority of American professional sports leagues, such as:
The collegiate sports betting situation is a little more complex. Some states allow full collegiate sports betting, while others only allow you to place certain wagers on collegiate sports events. Others have outlawed collegiate sports betting entirely. Time will tell how New York’s government rules on this point.
You may also be able to place wagers on international sports. Markets and betting lines for international sports leagues are often quite varied, though some sportsbooks have more options than others. International sports betting markets may include:
Niche bets can also be placed across most major mobile sportsbooks. These markets are for competitive activities that don’t have quite the following of American professional sports. They may include:
New York’s mobile sportsbooks will likely be drawn from existing operators. Thus, we can make predictions about the types of wagers you’ll be able to place once sports betting launches sometime over the next year or so.
All in all, New York’s sports betting industry is likely to be vibrant and very profitable once it finally launches. Hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later!