Over 30% of New Yorkers likely to bet on sports once mobile market is legal, survey finds

EmpireStakes.com commissioned YouGov to run a survey of New York adults to gather information ahead of the launch of mobile sports betting in the state, and the results were released Tuesday.

The survey involved a variety of sports betting related questions, including enquiries current sports betting behaviors and expectations for the upcoming New York’s mobile sports betting market. 

While New York’s mobile sports betting market is not yet regulated, the survey shows that 27% of New Yorkers wager on their favorite sports. This figure increases when a regulated market is more accessible to New Yorkers, with 32% planning to wager once the state offers legalized mobile sports betting. The survey shows that, among current sports bettors, 4 in 5 are at least likely to utilize New York’s legal mobile sports betting market.

New York’s mobile betting market is expected to be live by early 2022, before the Super Bowl. 

Under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s direction, the sports betting app for the area will be a state-run lottery model as opposed to an open market model. This will allow a limited number of operators in the state, and they will be selected through a bidding process with the New York State Gaming Commission. It also increases the amount of taxes sportsbooks will be required to pay. 

As of now, New York could have at least four different sportsbook apps when the market is launched, with more possible. When asked to select their preference for which four sportsbook apps should be offered in the state, New York adults selected FanDuel Sportsbook, FOX Bet, BetMGM and Bet365 as their top choices. Following closely as the alternate favorites are DraftKings Sportsbook, William Hill, Barstool and 888Sport.

As published by the company, the highlights from the survey include the following key findings: 

• 27% (1 in 4) of New York adults currently bet on sports in retail sportsbooks, offshore or other legal states. 
• 32% (1 in 3) of New York adults are likely to place sports bets once online sports betting is legal in the state. 
• 63% of New York sports bettors plan to bet at least once a week on sports. 
• Supporters of New York MLS teams are 17x more likely than supporters of New York NFL teams to bet on sports once mobile betting is regulated in the state. 
• FanDuel is the preferred brand among sports bettors in New York, with 22% selecting FanDuel as a top 4 favorite sportsbook, followed by FOX Bet (21%), Bet365 (19%) and BetMGM (19%). Meanwhile, DraftKings is the preferred brand among older respondents (aged 35+). 
• 3 in 4 sports bettors have traveled to New Jersey or Pennsylvania to place a legal sports bet. 
• Nearly half of sports bettors would bet on award shows such as the Academy Awards or Grammys (47%) and reality TV shows (48%). 
• More than 4 in 5 sports bettors would bet on college sports if it were available to them.