Online Sports Betting in New York is Nearing

It has been more than three years in the making. The battle that has ensured to bring online sports betting to the bettors of New York has been fierce and ugly. That's New York. As always, the players in charge finally came to an agreement, and online sports betting got its day in the sun during the summer.

In November, the New York State Gaming Commission announced the approval of licenses for two online gambling groups. The two groups are led by Kambi and Fanduel and collectively include the following nine U.S. online sports betting operators: Bally Bet, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, Resorts World, and Wynn Bet.

Since the details surrounding online sports betting in NY are a little murky, the following information will attempt to clear things up a little.

New York Online Sports Betting Rules and Guidelines

Let's start with revenue sharing. Thanks to the incredible deal driven by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the state of New York will be getting 51% of the gross sports betting revenue pulled in by the two aforementioned sports betting groups. This is by far the most favorable deal any state has been able to secure from a very aggressive online sports betting community. To offset this huge number, operators are attempting to secure the right to use promotional credits against their taxable revenue.

As for betting on New York's amateur sports teams, that will not be allowed. Also, any college sporting event that is held in a major New York sports venue will not be fair game for New York sports bettors. The list of applicable venues includes Barclays Center, Bills Stadium, and Madison Square Garden. With MSG on this list, there could be major issues should the NCAA ever want to award NCAA March Madness games to the venue.

As of now, the new online sports betting legislation will have no effect on retail sports betting in the state. The state's four existing retail sportsbooks will continue operating as in the past. It is worth noting there are rumblings that legislation that would attempt to expand retail sports betting might be in the works. Note: New York will have the ability to issue new retail casino licenses starting in 2023.

When Will Sports Betting Go Live in NY?

At this point, there is no set date for the aforementioned online sportsbooks to start taking bets. At issue right now is the establishment of the online sports betting infrastructure in terms of servers and their locations.

While there is no set date, there is a viable target. Clearly, all interested parties would like to see the state's first online sports bets going in the books by the time the NFL playoffs roll around. That would be the middle of January 2022. With the Super Bowl looming in early February 2022, there is a lot of revenue at stake. That would especially be true if the region's New England Patriots were to make it to the big game.