Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo said New York online sports betting could realistically launch in early January 2022, but said he would be “ecstatic” if it launched in 2021.
New York sports bettors have anxiously been awaiting for word of the state’s sports betting launch since nine operators and eight platform providers were awarded online sports betting licenses in November.
2022 Is A Realistic Start Date
Rumors have spread that sports betting could potentially begin in New York by Christmas, but Addabbo told Elite Sports New York that any launch before 2022 may not be realistic.
“If the uniform start date is before the end of the year, I’d be ecstatic at that point. I’m an optimistic person, but I’m trying to be realistically optimistic and say sometime in January,” Addabbo Jr. told ESNY.
Bets do need to start well before February so any potential kinks or glitches can be worked out before Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, 2022, he said.
Glitches are inevitable but they need to be taken care of before February.
“That, to me, is the benchmark. How we perform during the Super Bowl,” he said.
Uniform Sports Betting Launch Date?
Addabbo Jr. said he suggested a uniform start date for all nine operators to launch sports betting, but nothing has been agreed to as of yet.
A staggered launch would be “haphazard,” and wouldn’t benefit New York residents, he said.
“There should be a standard or uniform start date for mobile sports betting in New York, not a haphazard launch where one entity starts at one date and another entity starts at another. I like uniformity, I think the residents of New York benefit from that, and we’re hopeful that all provider and operators can be on the same page and start on the same date,” he said.
FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Bally Bet, Caesars, Wynn Interactive, PointsBet, Rush Street Interactive and Resorts World were approved by the New York Gaming Commission as the state’s online sports betting operators.
The New York Gaming Commission is currently in negotiations with the casinos and operators for these particular servers. Discussions are ongoing for which casinos will hold which servers, construction of the server rooms are currently underway, and the construction and programming of the servers has begun, he said.
“What I have heard is that negotiations are going well, progressing well, and everything is going according to plan, slightly ahead of schedule even for the servers,” Addabbo said.
A start date could be selected after negotiations for the servers are completed.
