NY Senator: Online Casino Legalization Could Provide State With Sustainable Revenue


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New York could be among the next wave of states to legalize online casino gambling, and with the move, a lead proponent hopes to box out sweepstakes casinos. 

Sen. Joe Addabbo told LSR this week that he considers sweepstakes casinos a form of gambling, but the state of New York does not regulate them. Addabbo, who chairs the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee, introduced an online casino bill, S2614, this session. 

He said he would work to ban or incorporate sweepstakes casino games in his online casino legalization effort. 

“Whenever you go into the arena of gaming, you want to make sure it’s regulated so it’s a safe product for New Yorkers,” Addabbo told LSR. “It’s really about ensuring it’s a safe product. Sweepstakes, they’ve gotten around a loophole, but if you use money to buy the coins and it equates to greater cash prizes, that’s gambling.” 

Legal online casino in New York

Addabbo said sweepstakes are legal in New York. That will remain true unless the state administratively bans them.

The Social and Promotional Gaming Association, which launched in September as a group dedicated to “providing stakeholder education” concerning sweepstakes, did not respond to LSR‘s request for comment concerning the bill.

Addabbo said it would be good to incorporate it into online gambling, which he hopes to legalize to help cut down on the robust illegal market that could cost New York billions of dollars annually. 

That could help with the New York budget deficit that will approach upward of $6 billion, he said. He said the state could use a new sustainable revenue source like the one online casino legalization could provide. 

Protecting New Yorkers with online casino legalization

Acknowledging the black market gambling opportunities, Addabbo wants to legalize online casinos to get ahead of potential addiction growth.

“If we want to be serious about addiction, you need to regulate so we can monitor activity; you want to catch it before the addiction hits,” he said. “If it’s in the shadows, we can’t really help them.” 

He said sweepstakes can look like games like Candy Crush and appeal to minors. Addabbo said he wants to be proactive and not reactive when it comes to a potential increase in gambling addiction among minors.

Crypto brings new concern

Along with sweepstakes casinos, Addabbo mentioned the growing concern of crypto traders incorporating futures markets, including sports, into their offerings. 

Crypto.com unveiled its sports prediction product last month. That expanded this week as Kalshi began offering sports markets

Addabbo said the crypto platform issue is trickier because it involves federal regulations, but he said there is potential for it to explode. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates the exchanges.

Improving NY sports betting

Along with the online casino bill, Addabbo said it is important to keep improving the online sports betting and New York horse racing industries. 

“You can’t just sit back and say mobile sports betting, we did it, and we’re successful,” he said. “How do we improve?”

Among the things he is looking to do is increase the funding for problem gambling from $6 million annually to 1% of gross revenue.

Photo by Shutterstock / Nagel Photography