Mobile sports gambling captures NY? You bet

Daily Point

New York sports betting proves a sure thing

The first day of legal mobile sports betting in New York Saturday produced eye-popping numbers, hot deals, technological snafus and some reassuring news for the bargain-shopping gambler.

Even though the 51% tax on sports profits paid to New York by its legal bookmakers ranks among the nation’s highest, the four betting sites that launched here this weekend did not push the price of wagers up compared with other states, as some industry analysts predicted.

The rush of new-age bookmaking is tracked by a thoroughly modern method.

To open an account or place a bet, the phones of mobile gamblers need to be "pinged" to prove to bookmakers that the customer is physically in a state where gambling is legal. In New York there were 5.8 million pings in the first 12 hours of legality Saturday, according to GeoComply, which processes such requests. A map the company put up shows in graphic detail just how furious the "pinging" was, with GeoComply reporting New York City and Long Island in particular, plus gambling-heavy areas like Buffalo and Rochester, providing the bulk of the traffic.

GeoComply said that one-day total of pings, and the 17.2 million total weekend pings, for the final week of the NFL regular season, far outstrip any other state’s kickoff.

As for the tax revenue, for the 2 ½ years sports betting has been legal in New York, in-person only, at several upstate casinos, the total state take from gaming taxes was $3.7 million. Several gaming experts say that multiyear total was likely exceeded by the state’s take just from last weekend.

Although the margin for profit is so small for bookmakers here, operators were offering big promotions. Caesars offered a match of up to $3,000 on new deposits and $300 in free wagers for new customers and it seems to have worked out. The company, one of the four online franchises operating, says this weekend it processed nearly a million New York wagers on sports across the nation, and world.

And that’s even with a three-hour crash of the Caesars site Sunday night, as volume spikes also caused a number of smaller snafus for DraftKings, FanDuel and BetRivers.

It’s as if downstate New Yorkers had developed a taste for, and knowledge of, sports gambling, even before it was legalized!

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Schumer’s hurdles, high and low

Pushing national legislation past big obstacles and clinging to a one-vote margin remain Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s clearest challenges.

By comparison, getting reelected looks for the moment like a smooth road for him, as the powerful Democrat strives for a fifth term this fall.

As New York turned deeper blue in recent years, some thought or perhaps wished that Schumer would be vulnerable to a challenge from the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx), who in a world of social media and meme politics attracts outside attention as a relatively new Congress member. But at this point, the second week of the election year, there are no signs of a primary challenge building despite the predictions of ex-President Donald Trump.

He said in an October statement: "The Progressives gain far more power with the legislation being currently talked about by failing than if it passes. It makes them a true powerhouse. Next up, AOC running against Chuck Schumer for his US Senate Seat."

While AOC hasn’t endorsed Schumer for November, she hasn’t been commenting at all on the potential for a run. The other New York Senate seat, held by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, comes open in 2024, and it is not yet known whether she will seek reelection, so the hunting ground for progressives may lay with the junior seat, not the senior one.

For historical perspective: New York Senators Daniel P. Moynihan and Jacob Javits won four terms, and Schumer stopped Al D’Amato in 1998 from having more than three. But in the U.S. Senate, which rewards seniority, a fifth term for Schumer wouldn’t even come close to a national record; none of the top 25 for longevity come from New York, and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is approaching the end of his eighth term. President Joe Biden, number 18 on the list, was a six-termer when Barack Obama tapped him for vice president.

The NYS Democrats’ nominating convention will be in February, with designating petitions to be distributed, signed and submitted between early March and early April. Election officials have yet to release the official political calendar for the year, but federal and state primaries are due to take place together in June, so the timeline for organizing statewide primary campaigns is growing short.

On the Republican side, Schumer’s potential November opponents are relatively unheard of. Joe Pinion, a regular Newsmax commentator, identifies himself on his Twitter account as an advocate of "progressive conservatism," and lost a race for a Yonkers state Assembly seat in 2018. Lawyer Aleksandr Mici, a Bronx lawyer and Albanian immigrant, is also looking for the GOP nomination to challenge Schumer. Mici has run unsuccessfully for state Senate and City Council.

By way of understatement, state Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs told The Point on Tuesday of Schumer’s chances: "You wouldn’t mind being in his position."

Sometimes political intel is about what doesn’t materialize, and the long-rumored once-in-a-lifetime stop-Schumer drive from the left seems so far to fit that mold.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Reading them their rights

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Final Point

'Ghost Guns' haunt some more than others

When Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder held a news conference Monday to highlight county gun confiscations, part of Blakeman’s purpose seemed to be setting up his Tuesday visit to Albany. The Republican headed north to demand repeal of the bail reform law.

But "ghost guns," untraceable weapons built from kits and sold without background checks or serial numbers, also played a role.

Nassau seized 117 illegal weapons last year, up from 91 one year earlier. Eight of the firearms were stolen and 12 were taken from people who had been released without bail after their arrest.

And 10 of the weapons seized were "ghost guns," which are of particular interest right now.

In late October, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law prohibitions sponsored by Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck) and Assemb. Chuck Lavine (D-Glen Cove) on the sale of ghost guns and the sale of any gun by New York gunsmiths that they’ve manufactured or assembled without a serial number.

But there is no such federal prohibition, nor is there one in most states. As long as ghost guns are legal anywhere, gun control advocates argue, they’ll be here. And the weapons Hochul banned could become a significant issue in her reelection bid.

Rep. Lee Zeldin, who opposes gun restrictions and is running for New York governor, disagrees with the state law, and any federal version. Zeldin wrote to The Point: "The bills signed into law by Governor Hochul last year provide increased scrutiny on firearms that are largely made by hobbyists and will do little to address violent crime in New York."

Considering they had their weapons confiscated by Nassau officers and displayed to augment an argument against bail reform, these 10 ghost gun owners might not be described well by Zeldin’s "hobbyist" argument.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

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