New York’s voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2013 permitting upstate casinos, and the state legislature that year authorized sports betting in case there was a future change in federal law. That opportunity arose last May when the Supreme Court overturned PASPA.
The state’s gaming commission approved regulations on Jan. 28. A few more procedural steps remain with sports betting likely beginning in April or May. The 2013 law states that “an operator shall accept wagers on sports events only from persons physically present in the sports wagering lounge,” but some legislators are arguing that the presence of servers in the casinos should be sufficient to enable mobile sports betting throughout the state.