New York Evaluating Sports Betting Market Expansion

• A New York senator has introduced a bill to allow for bets on league or athlete awards
• Coin toss bets would also be permitted
• Season-long prop bets, such as team win totals, will also be allowed under the legislations

New York’s sports betting market is the largest in the world…so why not try to make it even larger?

Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. introduced SB 2616 this week, which will allow for season-long proposition bets and future award winners.

New York sports betting law currently prohibits bets on league awards, such as the MVP or rookie of the year.

Expanding Sports Betting Markets

Addabbo, a longtime proponent of New York sports betting, has tried to pass similar legislation for the last several years. The newly proposed bill will allow for sports bets on “annual awards or honors for an individual athlete or team performance during or throughout a season.”

This means bets on MVP awards, rookie of the year, the Cy Young award, and other individual athlete awards will be legal.

The bill also allows for certain season-long proposition bets, with the following caveat:

“Provided however, that such in-game and season-long proposition bets shall be limited to those wagers that the commission determines not to be at risk of undue interference, insider trading of information, or other issues that could compromise the integrity and fairness of the sports wagering program.”

In addition, the bill specifically mentions that coin toss bets “that affect the gameplay of an event” shall be permitted under the new law, unless the New York State Gaming Commission prohibits the bets for reasons related to the integrity and fairness of the sports betting program.

Adding Opportunities to Already Massive Market

The proposed bill will allow the state to potentially expand its sports betting handle and revenue totals without licensing additional online sports betting operators. It could potentially open the market to greater growth event after setting records over the last year.

New Yorkers bet the most they ever had in 2024 since the state launched online sports betting in January 2022. New York online sports betting customers bet more than $22.6 billion, topping the previous high in 2023 of $19.1 billion.

New York online sports bettors wagered $22,624,505,166 in 2024, an 18.4% increase over the 2023 handle total of $19,103,521,572. It was the first time New York sports bettors wagered more than $20 billion in an entire calendar year.

Gross gaming revenues and tax revenues also followed suit, as the state experienced highs in both for 2024. The commission reported $2,044,005,840 in gross gaming revenues, an increase of 20.9% over the 2023 gross gaming revenue total of $1,689,883,800.

The most impressive total? New York took in more than $1 billion in sports betting tax revenue for the year, reporting $1,042,442,978 in tax revenues. The final total was nearly a 21% increase over the 2023 tax revenue total of $861,840,738.