New York publishes finalized rules for online sports betting; operations could launch in January

The New York State Register has now published the official set of rules for online sports betting that the first nine approved sportsbooks in the state will be required to follow in order to operate. The regulations have been officially adopted by the state and will come into effect when the market launches, expected in January 2022.

The document states the New York Racing Association has “expressed interest” in offering the advance deposit wagering (ADW) platform in conjunction with licensees. Customers could use “an electronic wallet” from which funds could be drawn to place wagers on either the ADW or the sports wagering platform. Payouts could be deposited from winnings from either service.

The New York State Gaming Commission has also denied a series of petitions from operators. DraftKings suggested that a link to the customer complaint process should be placed on the customer’s account page instead of the main webpage, which was ultimately rejected as it would have made the link harder to find.

Moreover, Penn National Gaming asked for the definition of “mobile sports wagering promotion” to be changed and for terms such as “odds boosts” and “odds benefits” to be removed. This was also rejected by the Commission, which considers pre-approval of promos ensures regulatory control and consumer protection.

Other amendments suggested by operators include employees of a licensee being permitted to wager on other platforms; limiting the number of employees who would need to be licensed as key employees; and the requirement of independent laboratory testing of mobile sports wagering software be limited to “critical” software. The Commission disagreed in all cases.

DraftKings’ suggestion that remittance of mobile sports wagering taxes to be monthly instead of weekly was also rejected, as well as a suggestion that submission of promotions to be limited to new promos and that a skin should not be required to submit substantially similar promotional mechanisms the Commission has previously approved. The Commission instead stated operators must submit for approval all promotions at least 15 days prior to being launched.

Now that the final set of rules have been published, New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo said the state could take its first mobile wagers by mid-January. The last step before launch is for the nine operators to negotiate the location of the betting servers, which are to be located in the land-based casinos.

“As we complete each important step towards offering our residents a premier mobile sports betting product in New York, we must focus on getting the servers negotiated, so that they’re up and running at the approved casinos in order to take the first New York mobile sports bets for some time in January,” the senator said.

The final set of rules add to a number of key conditions which were already of knowledge to the public, such as licenses lasting 10 years, a $25 million fee and a matrix setting a 51% gross revenue tax rate. Wagers will also not be allowed on a game in which a New York college team is playing. 

It is now also known consumers will be limited to one mobile sports betting account per skin and that these can be funded by a host of payment options, including credit cards. However, bettors seeking to fund their operations via this form of payment will face a $2,500 annual limit. Meanwhile, operators in the state are mandated to put safeguarding measures in place for customers, including deposit limits and tools to be prominently displayed on sites.

Operators allowed by the Commission to operate in the state include Bally Bet, BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook, WynnBET, PointsBet and Rush Street Interactive. They were all required to find a state casino to host their server and find an independent lab to approve and test their geolocation software.