Sports betting in New York: Here's when you can start at Tioga Downs and Rivers Casino
Albany Bureau
ALBANY - Place your bets.
Sports betting is expected to start Tuesday at Rivers Casino in Schenectady and a day later at Tioga Downs in the Southern Tier as the sites expect to win their state licenses as soon as Monday.
The two of the four upstate casinos said they are ready to go with taking bets at their newly developed sportsbooks, while del Lago Casino in the Finger Lakes and Resorts World Catskills said they do not have a date yet when they will start sports betting.
The state Gaming Commission is expected to award the sports betting licenses to the casinos as early as Monday.
"From my experience with sports betting at the Meadowlands and the feedback we have received from customers since we completed construction on the sportsbook a few weeks ago, I'm really looking forward to our opening at Tioga," said Jeff Gural, who owns Tioga Downs and the Meadowlands Raceway in New Jersey, which allowed for sports betting last year.
Gural said Tioga Downs plans a soft opening of its sportsbook on Wednesday and an official opening on Friday.
"I am confident it will be a great amenity to our facility, and I'm looking forward to officially cutting the ribbon on Friday," he said.
The state's Native-American casinos can also offer sports betting, but it is unclear when they will open.
Brad Maione, a spokesman for the state Gaming Commission, declined to say when the commission will give final approval for the upstate casinos to start taking bets on sports.
"As with many other licenses, staff have been delegated authority to consider approvals necessary for this activity to commence," he said.
But Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady plans to open its betting lounge Tuesday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony, pending state approval.
The preparations come after the state Gaming Commission gave final approval to the sports-betting regulations last month and after the new regulations appeared in the State Register, which were necessary steps before New Yorkers.
New York has been deliberating sports betting since the the U.S. Supreme Court last year lifted a federal sports-betting ban.
In fact, New Jersey took in more than $3 billion in bets in the first full year, statistics Friday showed, according to the Associated Press.
Now New York will hope to get a piece of the action, but its sports betting operations will be limited.
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Where can you bet?
New York's regulations only allow for on-site sports betting, not through the internet or mobile devices.
State lawmakers sought to pass a bill before the end of the legislative session in June that would allow for mobile betting and to expand it to Off-Track Betting sites and betting parlors at racetracks, but the effort was stalled in the Democratic-led Assembly.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office has maintained that the state constitution only allows for sports betting on site.
There is also a limit on the betting. The regulations will ban betting on college sports teams in New York or any college contests played in the state.
Nonetheless, the four upstate casinos see sports betting as a boost their operations, which have failed to meet expectations since opening more than two years ago.
They have all paired up with sport-betting companies. Tioga Downs has partnered with FanDuel, for example, while del Lago is with DraftKings.
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