Fixed-Odds Wagering Not Expected to Advance in NY

A legislative push to permit fixed-odds wagering on Thoroughbred racing via a direct system on New York's fledgling mobile sports betting platforms failed to get traction this year in Albany and will have to wait until 2023 for another try, according to one of the idea's chief backers.

The bid by state Sen. Joseph Addabbo and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, who head the New York Senate and Assembly racing and wagering committees, was not expected to be considered, at least for 2022, when the Legislature hopes to end its annual session June 3, a day late.

The legislation was introduced late last year, but never gained traction in the face of reluctance to tinker for now with the state's five-month-old, lucrative mobile sports gambling industry that permits betting on an array of pro and some college contests. Also, other gaming issues took up much of the political oxygen in Albany, N.Y., such as lawmakers approving this past spring a plan for the state to proceed with an accelerated process to award three new commercial casino licenses in the downstate markets.

Addabbo, who first introduced the fixed-odds legislation last November, had called his proposal a new and "seamless" way to wager on Thoroughbred races via mobile sports betting platforms, which were turned on this past January statewide. (Gov. Kathy Hochul this week said that mobile sports betting activities already have yielded $267 million in state tax revenues in just the first months of 2022, far surpassing years' worth of collections in other states.)

As lawmakers worked to end the 2022 session, Addabbo said June 2 a number of gaming-related issues, including the fixed-odds horse racing wagering on mobile sports systems, "needed more time to cultivate and iron out some of the issues."

Anything can happen in Albany until the last bill is taken up to close the 2022 session, which should be sometime Friday, but Addabbo had no expectations that the mobile sports wagering for horse racing would make a surprise, last-minute appearance at the Capitol.

Addabbo said the 2022 session was a period for starting discussions over expanding mobile sports betting to include direct wagers on horse racing, as well as to listen to potential obstacles. "I think it's a healthy discussion next year,'' he said of the 2023 session and, he added, it is his hope that the matter makes it into the next gubernatorial state budget plan that will be unveiled in January.

The state has permitted a "shared wallet" system, in which bettors can spend money they have in an account with a mobile sports betting operator to bet on horse racing in a pari-mutuel form through the NYRA Bets advance-deposit wagering platform. The New York mobile sports betting program only permits fixed-odds wagering, which Addabbo and Pretlow proposed to extend to include horse racing wagers while keeping intact the state's longstanding pari-mutuel system used for on-track and off-track horse betting. The bill would have applied to mobile sports wagers on races at New York Racing Association Tracks and Finger Lakes.

The measure also would have permitted various facilities—including sports stadiums, other tracks, and the casino at Aqueduct Racetrack—to offer kiosks for people to make mobile sports wagers.

"These changes are expected to result in billions of dollars of tax revenue for the State of New York,'' Addabbo and Pretlow wrote in their legislative memorandum explaining the bill's intent.

NYRA was among the bill's supporters. 

"Allowing horse racing content and wagering within the mobile sports betting marketplace would grow the sport in New York, deepen the industry's economic impact, and attract new fans. It would be a big win for New York and presents an enormous opportunity for horse racing to share in the benefits of mobile sports betting,'' Patrick McKenna, vice president of communications for NYRA, said in a statement Friday morning.