New York state lawmakers have apparently abandoned plans to mandate licensing of more mobile sports betting operators in the state’s fiscal year 2023 budget.
Budget language that would have mandated state regulators to license up to 16 mobile sports betting operators – up from four required under last year’s state budget – was left out of the revised Senate and Assembly compromise budget bill introduced today. The increase was included in the Assembly’s one-house budget adopted last month.
Also excluded was a prior Senate proposal authorizing up to 14 mobile sportsbook operators by 2023 and up to 16 by 2024, with at least two additional skins mandated by Jan. 2023.
It’s the latest development from ongoing budget talks in Albany, where state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are still negotiating a final state budget for FY 2023.
A final budget was due April 1, making its passage almost a week late.
No More Than Nine New York Mobile Sportsbooks?
New York has licensed nine mobile sports betting operators. No more are expected without state legislative approval.
The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) made that clear in its mobile sports betting licensing RFA released last July. The NYSGC is the regulatory agency over sports betting operators statewide.
According to the NYSGC, future mobile sports betting operators won’t be authorized “under the Commission’s interpretation of present law,” the agency said in a Q & A document attached to the 2021 RFA.
Expanding the number of required mobile operations in the fiscal year 2023 budget could change that, of course. But the time for action is running out – if it hasn’t already.
The word out of Albany is state lawmakers aren’t going to revisit the issue, now that the compromise plan has been introduced.
“For those unfamiliar, if a budget bill’s been introduced, it’s almost definitely going to pass as-is,” PBS’ New York NOW host Dan Clark wrote on the program’s live blog.
Gaming Today will update this article as more information becomes available.
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