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New York Online Sports Betting Proposal Gets More Bad News

In a budget proposal submitted by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, he casually forgot to include mobile sports betting. Meanwhile, the state is looking for a way to recoup about a $6 billion budget deficit this year.

“There’s no gimmicks. There’s no casino revenue. This is not the time to come up with creative although irresponsible revenue sources to solve a problem which doesn’t really exist,” said Cuomo.

The governor did express interest in bringing sports betting to brick-and-mortar locations throughout the state. However, the online method is still an area that he’s not willing to explore.

“We have until March to convince the governor that mobile sports gambling should be in our state,” said state senator Joe Addabbo Jr. “We can introduce a separate bill, but it’s much more likely if it goes in the budget.”

It really is astonishing that New York hasn’t given the idea of mobile sports betting much thought. Still to this day, Cuomo has not given a true concrete explanation as to why he’s unwilling to move forward with the idea.

You would have to wonder if there are other influences that may be in his ear.

Others Thriving

After all, neighboring New Jersey just had its highest month in December 2019 in terms of percentage handled at 88 percent. About 25 percent of The Garden State’s handle comes from New York residents making the short journey, in mileage (not necessarily traffic time), over bridges and through tunnels to place those bets.

The sports betting revenue at New York retail locations has been disappointing, to say the least. Delaware, which has about five percent of the population that New York does, is more than doubling the amount of revenue it brings in monthly from sports betting.

Not to mention, nearby Pennsylvania has rolled out the full menu just like New Jersey with mobile betting and retail locations.

While New York is certainly a fantastic tourist destination, it really shows how much money it is missing out on by not including mobile sports betting. In fact, all of the retail locations that New York offers are well away from the glitz and glam of Manhattan, which is basically all anyone really thinks about when they think of the area.

In a statement, Addabbo said, “I am hopeful that mobile sports betting is on a similar road as some other issues, such as paid family leave and medical marijuana, which were initially rejected by the governor. Fortunately, these initiatives are now in place to benefit the people of our state, as would mobile sports betting.

“I look forward to working with the governor’s administration, the state legislative leadership, and my colleagues on this matter during budget negotiations.”

It’s going to be a long treacherous road for New York to finally have mobile sports betting under its belt. The only real hope that its residents have is that The Empire State finally sees what’s going on in the rest of the country, if not its own backyard, and feel like it needs to get in on the action as well.

Although, if New York hasn’t realized that by now, when will it ever?

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