Two veteran lawmakers are trying, for the third legislative session in a row, to legalize fixed-odds betting on Thoroughbred racing and to permit sports wagering self-service betting kiosks to be installed at tracks, stadiums, arenas, and other facilities.
It comes as some lawmakers who support those efforts, though, are putting their real attention on a far larger development in gaming: the legalization of online casinos.
Identical legislation on the horse racing betting idea was introduced this week during the first week of the 2024 session by New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo, a Queens Democrat who chairs the Senate racing, gaming and wagering committee; and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, a Westchester County Democrat who heads the Assembly's racing and wagering committee.
The two lawmakers had the same bill during the 2023 session, but the measures never made it out of the committees they run, which is a crucial first step for legislation to be considered by all lawmakers on the Senate and Assembly floors.
As the 2024 version of the bill specifically pertaining to horse race wagering was made public in the state legislature's bill tracking system, the far larger issue facing lawmakers is whether 2024 is the year New York legalizes online casino-type wagering. Also on the agenda is how much to expand the types of wagers that can be made on sports contests such as National Football League players and games or college basketball contests.
Addabbo expects to introduce new legislation in the next two weeks to legalize what he and the industry call iGaming, or online casino betting. The issue of fixed-odds betting on horse racing could end up being a part of those broader talks on iGaming, Addabbo suggested in a Jan. 5 interview.
Addabbo hopes New York Gov. Kathy Hochul embraces the idea in her upcoming 2024 state budget plan, due to be released later this month; the Queens Democrat said Hochul should back the idea, in part, as a way to stop the flow of what he said is at least $1 billion in online casino revenue potential that is lost in wagers made by New Yorkers to offshore or other places in the United States, such as Pennsylvania. With the state facing a multi-billion dollar deficit, no financial help guaranteed from Washington, and a desire by many lawmakers not to raise taxes, especially in an election year, Addabbo believes his colleagues and Hochul sooner or later will embrace iGaming and ideas such as a possible expansion of horse race betting as part of New York's mobile sports wagering program.
Addabbo said New Yorkers who bet via online casino outlets do so without any regulatory protection from the state and that gambling addicts drawn to the contests do not get the help they need.
"You can't cut yourself out of a deficit ... The idea is you look for revenue,'' he said of the upcoming budget talks that could see the various mobile betting options on the negotiation table.
He added: "I don't know what governor would allow New Yorkers to do something in an unsafe manner and lose $1 billion in betting revenues."
The expanded horse race wagering measure, which the New York Racing Association has supported, would be a potentially significant change for Thoroughbred racing by legally permitting it to be a part of the state's booming sports wagering program, which went live two years ago this month. New Yorkers can wager on horse racing through advance-deposit wagering platforms that offer pari-mutuel wagering, such as NYRA Bets, but allowing fixed-odds wagering would put horse racing on the major sports-wagering platforms such as FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, and others.
As horse racing depends on wagering as a revenue source, the bill requires the sports betting platforms to reach agreements with tracks licensed to conduct pari-mutuel wagering. That requirement will allow the racing associations or tracks to negotiate the rate or percentage of handle from such fixed-odds wagers returned to racing.
The New York sports gambling program permits an array of wagers on sports contests on a fixed-odds basis. The state's longstanding pari-mutuel system for horse wagering would remain in place under the recently submitted legislation, but Addabbo and Pretlow want to add the option to wager on Thoroughbred racing via sports wagering operators on a system where odds are pre-established between a sports betting platform and a track operator and subject to the approval of state Gaming Commission regulators. The current sports betting law's prohibition on the sports operators from taking horse wagers would be dropped if they are done under a fixed-odds method.
Addabbo first introduced the measure in November 2021. It died in the subsequent 2022 session when traction could not be gotten for such a major change so soon after the implementation of sports betting opportunities in the state that January.
NYRA officials in the past have noted that the state has a "shared wallet" system whereby sports betting patrons can use their accounts to also place wagers on NYRA races via its NYRA Bets ADW platform. Advocates say the proposed measure would greatly expand the pool of available bettors for horse racing contests and potentially introduce horse racing wagering to people who spend money on major pro contests such as the NFL.
A year ago, Addabbo hoped the idea would get incorporated into Hochul's annual budget process. Such a route, with billions of dollars of other priorities gaining the time and effort of fiscal negotiators, could be seen as an easier path for its passage than a "stand-alone" measure before the two legislative houses. Hochul will present her 2024 state budget plan later this month, and it is uncertain whether she will embrace the Addabbo and Pretlow sports wagering expansion idea into horse racing.
Many in the state's Thoroughbred industry have made clear their desire to become part of the state's sports wagering program, which keeps setting revenue records in recent months.
The racing sector, though, pales in comparison to the iGaming issue in Albany in terms of revenue and interest from people who want more online betting options. Meanwhile, another major step is expected to be taken this year: the selection of operators and locations for new brick-and-mortar casinos in the New York City area.
Addabbo suggested most of the oxygen over wagering-type issues this year in Albany will be taken up—he hopes in budget talks before the new fiscal year begins April 1—over the iGaming issue. He believes iGaming will bring far more in revenues and jobs than the existing mobile sports wagering program. [He notes, for instance, iGaming employment positions, under plans being eyed, would be required to be physically located in the state and be unionized.]
Still, he believes the expanded online wagering opportunities for Thoroughbred races should be advanced in Albany in 2024.
"I truly believe we have a horse racing industry that is good, but I believe we can make it better,'' Addabbo said Friday.
