New York senator launches sports betting bill

Sen. John Bonacic, chairman of the Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering in the New York Senate, filed Senate Bill S7900 Wednesday, preparing the state for a wider US sports betting market in the event of a positive decision in the New Jersey case currently under consideration by the US Supreme Court.

Bonacic’s move comes six weeks after a hearing in the state Senate on how best to pursure  a market considerably broader than that imposed by the restrictions of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).  Bonacic’s proposal is to overturn the PASPA as regards New York.

Observers note that the bill offers opportunities for negotiaton and compromise with vested state gaming interests and the professional sports bodies. It allows tracks and off-track betting parlors to take sports wagers, and tasks the  New York State Gaming Commission with the management of sports betting licenses and enforcement and regulation.

Gaming entities will be required to secure a separate sportsbook licence in addition to existing licensing, paying a state tax of 8.5 percent on GGR.

Interestingly, it also makes provision for a 0.25 percent fee to be paid to sports bodies – the now notorious “integrity fee” suggestion which has caused controversy in several states.

In New York’s case this is capped at 2 percent of a casino’s sports wagering gross revenue, due every three months, but the sliding scale means that a top operator could find itself paying out up to 10.5 percent.

Other measures designed to placate the leagues include their approval for the distribution of sports beeting data.

Bonacic’s bill envisages that operators will be required to use official sports leagues data in calculating wagers in various tiers from in-play to teasers, parlays, second-half or first-half wagers, and futures bets.

In short, the leagues will have considerable clout in the proposed sports betting dispensation, but it’s early days yet and more argument and amendment seems likely.

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