A bill legalizing sports betting kiosks at New York’s sports stadiums and arenas advanced to the state’s Senate Finance Committee for review on Monday.
Approval by the Finance Committee would move Senate Bill S7536A, which also makes fixed-odds horse racing available on mobile sports betting platforms, another step toward being voted upon by the full Senate.
If the bill passes, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Brooklyn Nets, Buffalo Bills, and Buffalo Sabres could install sports betting kiosks at their stadiums or arenas. The Knicks and Rangers both call Madison Square Garden home.
New York’s horse racing facilities could also install betting kiosks, along with off-track betting locations. Aqueduct’s VLT (Video Lottery Terminal) and Watkins Glen International, home of an annual NASCAR Cup Series race, are also included in the bill.
How Sports Betting Kiosks Would Work In New York
If S7536A becomes law, New York’s professional teams won’t suddenly become oddsmakers themselves. The bill requires that any approved facility partner with one of the state’s nine legal mobile sports betting platforms.
The Knicks and Rangers, for example, have already partnered with both BetMGM and Caesars. That makes it likely at least one of those platforms would operate kiosks at Madison Square Garden. Any team that’s yet to partner with a sportsbook must do so before installing kiosks at its venue.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr., chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Racing, Gaming, and Wagering.
“We’re looking at an original vision we had about putting kiosks in the stadiums, arenas, and race tracks. (And) we’re trying to marry horse racing and mobile sports betting,” Addabbo said before Monday’s vote, according to GamingToday.com.
If a sports betting platform chooses to add fixed-odds horse racing to its mobile sports betting offerings, it will first need to reach an agreement with the applicable horsemen’s association regulating a given track.
That agreement would determine the type of wagers that may be placed on horse races and how revenue will be distributed.
When Could Sports Betting Kiosks Arrive?
If the bill permitting kiosks is passed into law by the Senate, the first step will be installing kiosks at New York’s horse tracks and off-track betting facilities.
Professional sports teams will have to wait at least six months “after the effective date of this paragraph,” according to the bill. A date has yet to be assigned to said paragraph, however, at this stage of the legislative process.
The bill doesn’t spell out how quickly the New York State Gaming Commission may act to approve deals between the state’s professional sports teams and sportsbooks after the six-month moratorium.
Once approved, the kiosks will then need to be installed and tested to iron out any technical issues. Unless the bill quickly becomes law, kiosks may not be available at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field for the 2022 baseball season. It’s also unclear whether kiosks would be operational in time for the start of the NFL season at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium.
https://www.nysportsday.com/2022/02/17/senate-bill-would-allow-sports-betting-kiosks-at-new-york-stadiums/