Sports betting laws in New York are being changed to regulate the new mobile sports betting environment better. Not only will the bills be reworked for a wider regulatory net, but the system will be overhauled to incorporate new operators. This will help lower taxes, including writing and minority representation in the industry.

In the proposed Bill, the license fees for new operators/platform providers would be a whopping $50 million for 10years, twice the onetime fee of $25 million.

The changes are based on new bills S8471 A8658A introduced by Senators Joseph Addabbo and Chairman Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, respectively.

Bill Seeks Following Changes

New York State Gaming Commission has approved nine operators, with eight already active. The latest was the app launch by Resorts World last week.

The Bill will streamline the number of licenses awarded between 2023 and 2024. The Bill proposes that a minimum of 14 licenses be approved by Jan 31, 2023, and an additional 16 licenses should be approved by Jan 31, 2024.

The current number of operators determines the taxing regime. Hence the current 14 operators will work under a tax slab of 35%, which is a significant drop from the earlier 51% taxes. The projection is that the rate will drop to 25% if the operators in the state will increase to 15 or more.

The changes that the Bill proposes saw stiff resistance by earlier Governors, like Andrew Cuomo, since the administration’s focus is to maximize revenues of the state. Governor Cuomo was on record stating that the text rate for operators was fixed at 50-percent.

However, the new laws to amend the existing New York mobile sports betting law will be strict for entrants.

Bill seeks more Minority investment and diversity

The primary focus of the new changes is more than tax rate cuts but to have an inclusive environment. The commission proposes that a minimum of two applications have a ‘qualified minority representation.’ The proposal by the Representatives is to define an ‘entity’ as a group of a maximum of six individuals who are members of a minority group and will seek direct and indirect economic interest from five percent of the applicants.