There are a lot of people in New York who want to see mobile sports betting happen.
Lawmakers in Albany have agonized over the details- and whether it would be a good idea for years.
Initially, there were concerns about the prospect of cutting into revenues of casinos that benefit New York’s revenue. Then there were the concerns about making sports betting so readily available.
However, it’s legal in a number of neighboring states- and New York is worried about missing out on a big opportunity.
He says he is 100% certain that sports betting will pass this year. Even though Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the legislature have two very different proposals on the table- one of them is certainly going to get through.
“I think Governor Cuomo wants to generate as much money as possible for the state’s treasury and he thinks the casinos may not or should not be getting all the economic upside, the state should share it in too, but there’s a way to accomplish that,” Wallach told Spectrum.
Licensing fees, or how many licensees are issued is one major difference in the two proposals. There are two camps: One that thinks only a couple licenses should be issued, and the other, which thinks that as many licenses as possible should be issued.
One would generate more money more quickly, whereas the other would create a long-term growth scenario on the licensing fee collection side.
RELATED: In-depth look at bills proposed to legalize sports betting in New York (Spectrum News)
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