Mobile sports introduced in New York through four initial operators

Online sports betting went livein New York State this past Saturday. This was just in time to mark the end of the regular NFL season.

The New York Gaming Commission (NYGC) approved DraftKings, Caesars, FanDuel and Rush Street Interactive online betting sites to accept bets. This approval comes just in the time to accept bets on Monday's CFP National Championship match between Alabama and Georgia, as well as for the upcoming NFL playoffs.

Approval has also been requested by Wynn Resorts, BetMGM and Genting's Resorts World.

Senator Joseph Addabbo, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, stated, "Today's announcement by the New York State Gaming Commission that four of the nine licensed Mobile Sports Wagering Operations have been approved to begin operations ... is great news for New York in terms of revenue, new funding for education, addiction programs and youth sports, as well as new jobs."

He added, "I look forward to the other five operators satisfying the statutory and regulatory requirements necessary to launch in the near future."

New York is now the largest state to allow online sports betting. It's also one of 18 states that allows you to place online sports bets through an online sportsbook. Online wagering is not yet allowed in the three largest states of the country, Texas, Florida and California. In 2019, New York allowed online sports betting at its casinos.

The stipulations that allow online sports betting are that the four approved bookmakers must be affiliated with a land-based gambling establishment and pay an annual $5 million hosting fee. The next 10 years will see a 51% tax for the four approved bookmakers.

PlayNY.com predicts that New York, despite its unique structure in US legal market with a high national tax rate, will become one of the most important markets in the country.

Dustin Gouker, PlayUSA.com Network Lead Analyst, stated that New York would be a fantastic test case to see how states can tax sports betting while not threatening the future of the sector. He explained, "Launching with four of the best-known sportsbook brands in the U.S. shows that operators have not been dissuaded so far. And there is no doubt New Yorkers will respond in huge numbers, so long as operators can offer competitive products that sufficiently desensitize crossing state lines to place a bet."

Early statistics show that New Yorkers were impatiently waiting to place online sports bets. GeoComply, the Canadian company that offers geocaching services for most mobile sports betting apps in Canada, reported that it handled 5.8 million geolocation transactions during New York's first twelve hours of operation.

GeoComply is linked to each of the four apps that were launched in New York's initial wave. The total number of transactions is almost what the next three states in terms of the number of geocaching services reported.

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