NY moves toward sports betting - in limited venues

ALBANY — New York’s gambling commission gave preliminary approval Monday to allowing sports betting — but only in person and only at four upstate casinos.

No downstate facility, including Suffolk County’s video slots parlor, would be able to offer sports wagering. Nor would it be legal online.

However, Native American-run casinos in New York are likely to be able to offer sports betting, too. That's because of legal reciprocity guarantees that permit them to offer any gambling games allowed at non-Indian-run casinos.

The proposed regulations are subject to a 60-day public comment period before being finalized and, eventually, becoming effective, probably in early April.

New York and other states are rushing to embrace sports betting following a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that ended a federal ban.

The steps taken by the state Gaming Commission fall in line with the views of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and others who have said expanding sports betting beyond the four upstate casinos would require a constitutional amendment. That would take at least another two years to enact.

The six-member commission, led by a former Cuomo staff member, approved the proposal without comment.

The panel did not make the draft proposal publicly available before Monday’s vote.

In a short description read aloud before the vote, the Gaming Commission said limited authorization would “enable (New York) to get the four facilities up and running” and “remain within the scope of activities the (state) Legislature authorized.”

That referenced a constitutional amendment authorized by lawmakers and approved in a statewide referendum in 2013. Casinos in Schenectady, Seneca (Finger Lakes region), Tioga (Southern Tier) and Sullivan (Catskills) counties eventually were opened.

Allowing online or “mobile” betting would require action by Cuomo and the Legislature. Companies such as FanDuel — which is aligned with Tioga Downs — have started a lobbying push to get lawmakers to permit sports betting by phone.