New York is looking at the possibility of legalizing online casino gambling as the state records significant revenue from mobile sports betting.

State Senator Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens) introduced bill S4856 to the house, which would modify the existing New York Racing, Pari-mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law to include legislation for real money casino sites. 

The bill’s purview includes online slots, virtual table games and live dealer games. It does not include poker as Assemblyman Gary Pretlow already has a bill out proposing legalization on that front.

S4856 proposes that online casino licenses will only be held by four types of operators: destination resort casinos, racetracks, Indian tribes with gaming compacts, and operators with existing online sports betting licences. There will also be three additional interactive licenses granted to operators owned by minority groups. 

READ: Best US casino sites in 2023

In addition, the bill proposes the New York State Gaming Commission as regulator for the vertical. One of the stipulations of the bill is that the regulator does not grant a license to a provider operating in a prohibited market.

Meanwhile, licenses would cost $2 million and could be as high as $10 million if the operator is already an established brand name. The tax rate on gross gaming revenue is pegged at 30.5%. 

Talking to the press about his bill, Senator Addabbo noted how the success of mobile sports betting, which earned the state $700 million in its first year, should be an indication of how well online casino will do in the state. 

“Mobile sports betting has been enormously successful. We’re number one in the country,” Addabbo said.

“We have now proven there’s an appetite for iGaming with what we’ve seen with the mobile sports betting market.”

Addabbo argues that, if legalised, online casinos will turn out even more revenue for the state than sports betting. He also noted that the existence of online casinos would not affect the profitability of land-based casinos. 

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Texas legislators are on the move to bring casino gambling to the Lone Star state. Before this year’s legislative session even started, state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, filed a bill on casino legislation that was supported by Las Vegas Sands in 2021.

The tide has turned somewhat and a new strategy that would moot the Alvarado bill has been introduced by a highly influential Republican representative from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

State Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, filed a proposal on Friday (House Joint Resolution 97). The current strategy seeks to amend the state constitution to allow voters to make the decision on expanded gambling in November. A total of seven destination casino resorts could be authorized if the bill passes and is signed by the governor. Public opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of allowing casinos in the state.

Jobs and Economic Shot in the Arm for North Texas

Political and business leaders have advocated for casino gambling in North Texas for several years in order to bring jobs, increase tourism, and to reap other economic benefits.

Las Vegas Sands and other gambling operators have employed hordes of lobbyists and have spent millions of dollars to promote the legalization of Las Vegas-style casino gambling. There are currently three Native American Tribes with gambling houses in the state using “video bingo” machines that look and act like regular random number generator-powered slots. The largest operation is near the Mexican border in Eagles Pass.

The Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino holds over 3,000 of the machines. Another small operation is located in Livingston, Naskila Entertainment. The third is the on-again-off-again Speaking Rock Entertainment Center in El Paso.

Geren said in a prepared statement: “Polling over the last year makes it clear that more than 85% of Texans want the right to vote on this issue, republicans and democrats alike.

“It is high time that the legislature listens to the voters and allow them to decide this issue. I, for one, am not in the business of denying the voters of Texas their voice when their preference is so clear.”

A stampede of legislation in other states legalizing online sports betting and casinos has left Texas in the dust, and neighboring states like Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma already allow some forms of gambling leaving Texans to travel out of state or to the southern border in order to gamble. The revenues are not captured by the state under current law.

Sports betting was once considered illegal in all states except Nevada as no other states “grandfathered” in their right to offer it. However, in 2018 the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1991 opening the floodgates for legalized sports betting. There are currently 36 states that allow the activity with Oklahoma planning to join the pack this year.

Seven Destination Casinos Would be Allowed

The Geren bill would authorize two casinos in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, and two in the Houston area. One would be allowed in San Antonio, one in McAllen, and another in Corpus Christi. In the bill, it was stated that those locations promise the “greatest positive economic impact from destination resort development.”

Geren imagines the properties to become more than simply casinos, but “tourism amenities and facilities, including hotels, restaurants, meeting facilities, attractions, entertainment facilities, and shopping centers,” the bill said.

The bill would allow some of the Texas race tracks to use their current pari-mutuel licenses to open destination casinos.

While in the past, gambling proponents have advocated for casino gambling to increase state revenues, in 2023 lawmakers will be busy figuring out what to do with a more than $30b budget surplus.

The bill, as written would impose a 15% gross gambling tax on the casinos.

Just before Christmas, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he would be open to moving his team to the Dallas area when the current long-term lease expires in 8 years and a new casino with an arena for basketball and hockey should be part of a new casino resort. Cuban told The Dallas Morning News, “My goal, and we’d partner with Las Vegas Sands, is when we build a new arena, it’ll be in the middle of a resort and casino. That’s the mission.”

Source: Gambling proponents have a new plan to ask Texas voters to legalize casinos, San Antonio Current, February 3, 2023

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