Mobile sports bets drive big gains in NYS revenue

ALBANY — Mobile sports betting shows no signs of slowing down in New York.

While not as popular as the state lottery, mobile sports betting is now the second most popular gaming revenue stream the state has, according to a report released Wednesday by the state comptroller’s office.

In the state's 2026 fiscal year, which runs April through March, it collected more than $5.1 billion in gaming revenue, a jump of $1.3 billion from a decade ago. That includes lottery tickets and video lottery terminals at horse racing tracks, as well as casinos.

Over the past decade, New York’s gaming revenues have grown by 32.7%, driven almost entirely by the growth in collections from mobile sports wagering since its legalization in 2022.

New Yorkers have wagered $91.2 billion on mobile sports bets since then, resulting in $8.3 billion in gross gaming revenue.

In contrast, revenues from all other forms of gaming have collectively slipped, declining by 0.8%.

Even the state’s lottery system is seeing a decline that roughly coincides with the legalization of mobile sports betting. State lottery revenues reached their peak in the 2023 state fiscal year but were down 10% from that high in the 2026 fiscal year.

Most of the revenue from gaming is set aside to fund education purposes.

The state has more than 7.2 million unique sports betting accounts, according to the state comptroller’s report. In 2025, and those bettors placed more than 2.2 million wagers on games, totaling $25 billion.

The vast majority of those bettors are young, between the ages of 21 and 44, with 40% being 21 to 35 years old, the comptroller’s office said.

The most popular sport to bet on is basketball, with more than $9 billion wagered in 2025. Football was the second most popular sport, with over $5 billion in bets placed, followed by baseball, tennis and soccer.

Mobile sports betting comes with its problems as well.

There were 2,545 calls to the state’s hotline for people who think they have a gambling problem, an increase of 8.5% since 2020, according to a recent report from the state Gaming Commission and the Office Addiction Services and Supports. 

Since 2022, mobile sports betting has been the top reason for calls, the report says.

And the state is seeing an increase in underage bettors trying to access mobile sports betting platforms. New Yorkers must be 21 to bet on sports.

In 2023 there were 54 alleged incidences of underaged participation in mobile sports betting. The report says those are likely cases where underage individuals were given access to lawfully established accounts.

That jumped to 1,972 cases last year.