State Senator Joseph Addabbo has announced his ambitious plans to introduce an online casino and online lottery bill by the end of 2023, just in time for the upcoming session in January 2024 as well as the executive budget. This marks the Senator’s second attempt to introduce these iGaming products to the Empire State after his failed trial last year. 

Still a Lot to Be Done

Sen. Addabbo explained there is still a lot of work to do for the bill to make it into the session at the head of the next year, including “getting feedback from those in the industry,” which may include representatives of the casino industry, labor, and other parties. 

The Senator explained that they had followed the same successful steps when trying to introduce mobile sports betting to gamblers in the state. While admitting that the form and structure of the mobile sports betting bill were different from the ones proposed by him and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, the Senator still considered it a victory that “about 65% of our vision got into the bill.”

He also praised the fact that the bill revealed itself to be the most successful mobile sports betting product in the US. 

Since Sen. Addabbo is also determined to include iLottery in the new bill, the efforts involved are expected to be even greater for obvious reasons. The Senator expects both products to generate a state revenue of about one billion dollars. 

The new bill would include a 30% tax rate, which would be about the same tax as the one included in last year’s bill which failed to reach the executive budget.

“It’s a Budgetary Item”

The Senator expressed his concerns over the “multi-billion-dollar deficit” and the fact that the state cannot raise the taxes to such an extent to cover it while bringing up the possibility of generating new revenue via iGaming and iLottery as an alternative solution. 

He also explained that other US states that have already legalized online casinos and lotteries are currently “taking our money” while mentioning the large number of New Yorkers known to engage in illegal gambling.

Sen. Addabbo believes sitting on the sidelines would be the wrong thing to do, in the context of industry analysts speaking about the state losing one billion dollars each year. 

Finally, the Senator expressed his hope that Gov. Kathy Hochul would consider at least exploring the idea of legalizing online casinos in the executive budget as a means of opening the door to “dialogue and negotiation.”

In January 2023, Sen. Addabbo spoke about the state’s plans regarding three open licenses for full casinos, emphasizing the positive impact on the future of gambling in NY.

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In mid-August, Fanatics Holding’s online and retail sports betting division, Fanatics Betting and Gaming, successfully ended a six-month beta-testing phase for the Fanatics Sportsbook app with the official launch in Tennessee on March 2. Soon followed Ohio, Massachusetts, and Maryland. 

During the same month, the sports merchandise company announced it would give its sports wagering loyalty platform a big boost by getting ready to launch collectibles and trading cards as part of the rewards program. 

Now, according to Fanatics Betting & Gaming’s chief business officer, Ari Borod, the launch of an iCasino is in the books. While Fanatics will continue to be strongly focused on sports, online casino gaming is now also an integral part of their “long-term strategy.” 

Giving Customers What They Want

Considering iCasino to be “a very good business” in the long run, Borod believes Fanatics should start catering to the needs of bettors who are also interested in playing online blackjack on their phones – while preventing them from giving their business to competitors. 

Accordingly, the operator will need to “give the customer what they want,” which translates to the company’s current plans to launch an online casino in those US states where casino gambling is not frowned upon by legislators. 

Rushing the product to the day of its market release is not, however, an option for Fanatics. Since it is “too late for Fanatics to be the first,” their main goal will be to become the best in the industry. Based on the lack of sufficient innovation in the online casino world, Borod believes that, through hard work, their new strategy should pay off. 

The Big iCasino Launch Might Take Place By the End of the Year 

None of the four states that have already been introduced to the company’s sportsbook app offer legal casino gambling. This means there is no immediate need to launch an iCasino there. 

Nonetheless, the virtual gambling venue now represents a priority for the operator whose aim is to see it launch in states like Michigan, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania where online casinos are now legal and live. The big launch would take place either by the end of the current year or at the head of the next year, “if we don’t feel it’s perfect yet,” as commented by Borod during a Gamble On podcast episode.

The chief business officer further explained that the operator would be showing the same type of commitment to improving both the casino and the sports products in parallel. 

It is safe to assume that the operator will first put the iCasino products through the same type of lengthy and comprehensive beta testing as it did with its mobile sportsbook app prior to giving it the green light for launch. 

Earlier in the month, Fanatics hired ex-Opendoor executive Andrew Low Ah Kee to run its $5 billion sports merchandise business as chief executive officer.

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Betty, a new iGaming startup sitting at the intersection of online casino and casual mobile gaming, announced its latest seed round led by Karlani Capital has raised $5 million, attracting interest from a number of investment funds.

Online Slot Players in the Focus

The new funding round for the American-Bulgarian real-money entertainment startup saw interest from other investors, including CEAS Investments, Courtside Ventures, Gaingels, OCA Venture, Subversive Capital and 305 Ventures.

The new seed round is the second funding round for the startup that is headquartered in New York and has an R&D office in Bulgaria, following its pre-seed funding in March 2022 which raised $1.8 million.

Gaingels, a private investment syndicate that participated in Betty’s seed round commented that, while historically sports betting and casinos had been marketed to men, more than half of these markets are made by women, and they admire “Betty’s mission to make the category more inclusive.”

Founded in 2022 by Vlad Pavlov, Chavdar Dimitrov, Jordan Tuch, Annie Zeng, and Justin Park, Betty has identified a large audience of casual iCasino customers – women playing slots – who remain underserved by existing online casino brands which in their core functions operate as sportsbooks.

Leveraging its founders’ collective experience of over 50 years in iCasino technology, Betty seeks to maximize the entertainment value of this underserved market group by offering them an entertaining gaming experience that is safe, social and inclusive.

Ontario Launch and Platform Development

The proceeds of the funding round will be used to speed up Betty’s launch in the Canadian province of Ontario where it was issued a gaming license by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO) in January and is anticipating soft launching operations this month. Betty’s full-scale go-to-market in Ontario is expected to take place in the second business quarter of 2023.

Money raised from the seed round will also go towards the continued development of the company’s proprietary online casino platform and its specifications tailor-made for markets in North America.

The team of Betty’s founders was behind the creation of QL Gaming Group, a direct-to-consumer sports data and iGaming affiliate platform headquartered in New York that was acquired by Audacy, a free broadcast and radio platform.

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