So Far, so Good: New York Taking in Massive Revenue Through Sports Betting

The state of New York has quickly reaped the rewards of the decision to launch mobile sports betting.

The Empire State launched mobile sports betting in January of this year, and the country’s fourth-most populated state has seen huge amounts of revenue in the early going.

Back in February, Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times reported that New York moved ahead of Nevada as the No. 1 mobile sports betting state in the country. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times reported that over a five-week period, New Yorkers placed more than $2 billion in sports bets.

Major sportsbooks like Caesars, BetMGM, BetRivers, DraftKings and FanDuel are all up and running in the state in New York. Some of the best New York sportsbook promo codes from these sportsbooks include risk-free bets of up to $1,000.

There’s a wide variety of different sports bets customers can place, including money lines, over/under and futures. Customers in New York can bet on plenty of different sports, including hockey, baseball, football, basketball and college sports.

According to the New York State Gaming Commission (h/t Lou De Aguila of Golden Casino News), the state took in $1.63 billion in bets throughout the month of March. Furthermore, the NYS Gaming Commission announced last week (New York State Gaming Commission (h/t Larry Henry of Gambling.com) that New Yorkers have now placed more than $5 billion in sports wagers.

“Over the past month, we’ve seen how mobile sports wagering can be an economic engine for New York, driving significant funding to our schools, youth sports, and so much more,” Governor Kathy Hochul stated in February. “As this new industry continues to grow, New York will make sure we have the resources and guidelines in place to make it a success for all.”

Hochul added at the time that the state would garner more than $70 million in tax revenue from the mobile sports betting industry.

It Was Only a Matter of Time Until New York Legalized Sports Betting

It’s been nearly four full years since the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) violated the nation’s Tenth Amendment. The PASPA essentially banned sports betting in most parts of the United States, but the SCOTUS’ ruling paved the way for all U.S. states to legalize it if they so desired.

Soon after the ruling, the states of Mississippi, Delaware and New Jersey became the first states to join Nevada in legalizing sports betting. Over the years, more and more states have since given it the green light.

In the “Big Four” North American professional sports leagues (NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB), the Empire State has the Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Islanders, Sabres, Jets, Giants, Bills, Knicks and Nets.

Among all U.S. states, only California has more franchises in those four leagues than New York.

So it really only felt like a matter of time until New York joined in on the legalization of sports betting. Two neighboring states, New Jersey and Delaware (zero major professional sports teams), have benefited tremendously from the sports wagering industry.

Few states simply have the rich and wealthy sports history like New York. The Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Rangers are among the most storied franchises in their respective sports leagues.

According to Forbes, the Yankees are baseball’s most valuable franchise with a value of $6 billion.That’s not all. In October, Forbes valued the Knicks at $5.8 billion — tops in the NBA. In December, the Rangers led Forbes’ NHL franchise valuations list with a value of $2 billion.

The wait lasted more than three years following the SCOTUS’ ruling, but New York officials finally decided to launch mobile sports betting in January. And seeing that they’ve taken in billions up to this point, it’s safe to say this: So far, so good.