New York lawmakers to take on additional mobile sports betting regulations this session
State lawmakers want to take on further regulations around mobile sports betting this upcoming session.
Assemblymember Carrie Woerner, who chairs the Racing and Wagering Committee, told Spectrum News 1 that she expects a package of bills, including existing legislation as well as fine-tuning stemming from a legislative hearing in Albany Wednesday, will be ready to go by the time the 2026 session starts up for the year in January.
It comes as the state is also making a move toward legalizing other forms of online gambling. They will have to juggle the debate over whether or not to unleash that market with how to best manage the one that has already been created.
"We need to do a better job of putting guardrails, putting some regulations, around mobile sports betting,” she said.
Woerner pointed to testimony which made it clear that promotions and how they are managed and targeted will be top of mind for lawmakers.
"They all talked about the promotions, and how much those are targeted at specific age groups, the younger age groups, to bring them in,” she said. "We need to minimize the amount of promotional play that somebody gets to keep them betting.”
Part of the rationale for legalizing mobile sports betting and i-gaming, should the state choose to go that route, is regulating the market for both revenue purposes and in order to create guardrails for young people and those most at risk of developing a gambling problem.
Michelle Hadden, executive director of the New York Council on Problem Gambling, stressed that the state is collecting revenue from these activities, and New York must hold up its end of the bargain and ensure that the product is safe.