A Big Win for the Empire State: New York Mobile Sports Betting Finally Launches

January 10, 2022 Allie Nelson
US Sports Betting Industry Expert
VegasInsider.com

New York sports betting fans should be excited. New York mobile sports betting finally launched this past weekend. New Yorkers now have several options for sports betting in the Empire State.

As of 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, January 8th, four mobile New York sportsbooks were approved by the New York State Gaming Commission. These are:

• The DraftKings Sportsbook App
• The FanDuel Sportsbook App
• The Caesars Sportsbook App
• The BetRivers App

However, operators were under no obligation to launch their services by 9 a.m. on Saturday, though many wanted to be. This time just represented the first moment that they were cleared to launch by the state regulators.

For instance, BetRivers was not fully operational by that launching point. This was because the app, produced by Rush Street Interactive, was still pending approval by Google Play and the Apple App Store at that time. So, for the next few days, sports bettors will need to place their bets through the BetRivers website.

So, with this boon to the sports betting market in New York, the timely premiere will be especially great for NFL betting. New York mobile sports betting will now be legal for the whole playoffs in addition to the last week of the regular season. This is one sports season New Yorkers will not want to fuhgetabout.

As of this writing, there are five mobile operators that are still waiting on their regulatory approvals to launch in the state. These are:

• BetMGM
• Bally Bet
• PointsBet
• WynnBET
• Resorts World (using the PointsBet platform)

According to New York State’s regulators, these approvals are set to be handed down on a rolling basis. They should be able to receive approvals to launch once their statutory and regulatory requirements that are needed are met. If these operators are approved before February 13th, they will be able to benefit from Super Bowl betting.

New York sportsbooks are seeking to make the experience as similar as possible to the other states nearby that have legal sports betting. Namely, New Jersey has been a big sports betting state in the nation and for neighboring New York bettors. So, it may not surprise people to hear that the same ban for in-state betting on college sports also is in effect for New York.

In addition, betting on college events that take place in the state of New York is also prohibited in New York sports betting. This is true even if the event involves a New York-based college or not.

New York bettors should be able to place a typical array of betting types. This includes bets like parlays, moneyline, in-game betting, futures, props, point spread, and totals.

As mentioned before, many sports betting fans in New York have been traveling to New Jersey to place sports bets. So, now that New York mobile sports betting has launched, sports betting revenue in New Jersey could be impacted. For instance, sports betting stalwart FanDuel has reported that of its New Jersey sports betting accounts, around a quarter of them are registered to New York addresses.

According to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, a research firm, in New Jersey in 2019, New York bettors wagered around $837 million. Add to this the fact that the sportsbooks that have launched in New York already have launched in New Jersey. So, we will see what happens and how quickly New York’s own sports betting market grows.

Written by Allie Nelson, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.