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New York sports betting went live in January 2022 — and it’s all been nothing but up since then. The state became the country’s top legal sports betting market almost immediately and hasn’t let up since.
The New York State Gaming Commission — which tracks the official data — said $2.48 billion was bet by bettors during the month of January. This is a new state record for betting handle, scratch that, a national record. No state has ever reported a high number of wagers during a single month.
That means things possibly can’t get better in the state, right? Well, maybe not. There’s a state congresswoman that’s proposing major changes to the industry. It’s no guarantee she’ll get her way, but they are ambitious at the very least. Keep on reading and we’ll tell you all about it here!
New Bill Would Shake Up Industry
Meet Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, who is the head of the Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee — which explains her interest in the burgeoning industry to begin with. She has put forward A6013, a bill that would make two big changes to the gambling industry.
The first change is to expand the number of sports betting licenses inside the state. As it stands, there are nine licensed operators and mobile betting apps. Here they are by alphabetical order:
- Bally Bet
- BetMGM
- BetRivers
- Caesars
- DraftKings
- ESPN Bet
- Fanatics
- FanDuel
- Resorts World Bet
Well, Woerner’s legislation wants to go from 9 licenses to 16. The bill, if passed, would require a minimum of 14 online sportsbooks to be live by January 31, 2026 — and the full 16 by the next year. There would be a formal bidding process to get a license. Not only that, new entrants would have to pay $50 million in fees to get entered in.
This is where we have to jump in to pick a fight with Woerner. Who are these other 7 sportsbooks that could pay up $50 million to join? The state already has all the “big dogs” in the market. Hard Rock Bet is probably one. They have a Florida sports betting monopoly so that sum of money is within reason. Bet365 is another one that could pony up, but options are scarce after that.
You see, sports betting is a very sticky industry. It’s been shown time and time again that bettors typically stick to the same platform. Just ask ESPN Bet, which has largely failed to attract new users despite a partnership with the biggest sports media brand in the world. The chances of New York bettors ditching DraftKings and FanDuel — the two market leaders — for new entrants is slim to none. We’re not sure why Woerner wants all these extra licenses that’ll likely go to waste.
Woerner’s Bill Asks For A Bigger Change
Don’t think Woerner stopped at more sports betting licenses. No, the real head-turning objective of the A6013 bill was this one — slash the state’s tax rate on sports betting.
New York currently has the highest tax rate in the country at 51 percent. That’s right, sportsbooks have to pay a slight majority of their profits to the state. But the congresswoman wants to trim that by a significant margin. She’s proposing a tiered system based on the number of operators that looks something like this:
- 10-12 operators would bring it to 50%
- 13-14 operators would bring it to 35%
- 15-16 operators would take it 25%
We’re sorry, but this is just a dumbfounding proposal. Absolutely dumbfounding that benefits no one but the existing operators. As we said, the new licenses are not going to suddenly steal market share from the likes of BetMGM or DraftKings. Those platforms have entrenched user bases, who aren’t going to break up with them to play at Betfred, for example. The new licenses aren’t going to magically sign up new bettors who aren’t already betting either.
So that just means New York will give up revenue from taxes without gaining it elsewhere — no, the $50-million licensing fee isn’t enough to make up from going from a 51-percent tax to half that at 25 percent. Not even close.
Previous Spouts Betting Tax Cut Efforts Have Failed
Believe it or not, Woerner isn’t the first state lawmaker to pitch such a stupid proposal. Sen. Joe Addabbo took a swing at similar legislation back in 2023. He failed and so will Woerner.
Take a step back and think of the optics here. New York uses tax betting money for mostly public good. Revenue is distributed to the state’s education fund, plus youth sports and problem gambling programs. Can you imagine telling local schools their funding will get slashed so sportsbooks can make more money? Seriously? That has zero chance of happening.
We honestly have no idea how Woerner even has a political seat when you see such asinine proposals. Sports betting has become a crown jewel industry for the state since launching — netting $2.8 billion in tax revenue. Cutting that in half for no reason that would benefit the state (or even local citizens) just makes zero sense. So yeah, you can kill this bill right now. We only wrote about it to entertain ourselves with how idiotic it is.
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