From the Morning Memo:
A bill allowing New Yorkers to place wagers on mobile devices for sporting events could gain final passage by the end of the legislative session in June, Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow said in an interview Wednesday.
Pretlow in the interview said he believes the constitutional questions raised by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration surrounding mobile betting are being resolved.
“I think we’ve shown the second floor that this is not correct,” Pretlow said, referring to the governor’s suite of offices in the Capitol. “This is no different than what we do with horse racing where people have advanced deposit on horse racing, where people have advanced deposit wagering on horses, and because the servers are at the racetracks, it’s deemed they are playing at the tracks. It’s exactly what New Jersey’s doing.”
At the same time, Pretlow said concerns raised by race track operators could also be alleviated with an amendment.
“They want to be participants in this,” he said. “They want to be an affiliate of the casinos where they can offer sports betting other than horse racing at their facilities. There is an amendment that we have in both houses now that would allow for that.”
New Jersey’s progress on mobile sports betting, where it is now allowed, has been an impetus and model for New York to go forward. The New York measure will likely allow for in-game or “prop” bets to be placed, but it is unlikely to stray afield from sporting events.
“I don’t think we’re going to go the route of who is betting on the Oscars and things like that which New Jersey went into, but it’s definitely going to cover all sports in New York,” Pretlow said.
I want to report the Assembly version of the bill next week.
I’m hopeful that we get this done before the end of the session.