Both houses of the New York legislature now have sports betting bills to consider and roughly two weeks to hammer them into a single measure to present to Gov. Andrew Cuomo before lawmakers adjourn for 2018.
In other words, the clock is ticking.
Last week saw Assemblyman Gary Pretlow finally introduce a regulatory measure in the Democratic-controlled lower house, more than two months after Sen. John Bonacic’s bill debuted in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
The bills are similar in their essentials. Which is not to say there aren’t key differences. The question is whether these can be finessed and enough yes votes obtained before the legislature calls it a year on June 20—a process complicated by an array of competing and influential interests jockeying for a piece of the action in one of the most crowded gambling markets in the country.
It’s also the fourth-most populous market, home of the nation’s largest city, and packed with millions of potential bettors, many of them fitting into younger demographics that don’t normally patronize casinos or racetracks but who can be counted on to wager enthusiastically on their phones and laptops.
So, if there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s the enormity of the opportunities—and it has, in the words of the Buffalo News, “set off a full-blown lobbying firestorm in Albany”.
Leading the field are the state’s four new commercial casinos, which have sports betting written into the legislation that authorized them five years ago. Add to these the eight racetrack-based casinos. Then there are the five off-track betting corporations, which together operate some 200 outlets across New York. Last but certainly not least there are the three gaming tribes, most notably the Seneca and Oneida nations, whose six casinos dominate the state’s western and central gaming markets.
That’s not counting racing interests, including tracks, horse owners, trainers and breeders, myriad out-of-state interests
