Despite being raring to go on the sports betting front, it took longer than expected for New York to legalize online gambling on the likes of MLS and other sports.
You can certainly make online sports bets in New York, including betting on MLS matches, now but that has only been true since 2022, when the state became the 31st in America to do so. A lot of this was down to competition with neighbouring states, and could even be partly attributed to the impact of COVID-19, but I will get into the finer details below.
It all started with the Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018. This act had effectively banned sports betting in America apart from some very specific exceptions, but when it was deemed unconstitutional the floodgates opened. Sports betting companies scrambled into action and states weighed up the options around legalization.
The increase in tax revenue was a huge pull, but different states have their own views on this sort of thing, so while some areas of America legalized right away, others approached the subject more carefully. Surprisingly, New York was in the second camp.
They had already passed a bill back in 2013 that would allow retail sports betting should the federal law ever be changed. When it did, retail betting was put into action almost immediately, but when it came to online betting things took a whole lot longer.
Resistance and Challenges to Legalization
Oddly enough, the man who had the most to do with getting online sports betting legalized in 2022 was also the man who objected to it 3 years earlier.
Andrew Cuomo was the state governor, and he had a few concerns about online betting. His main issues were that it would be unconstitutional to legalize it without a state referendum and that the money made from online betting would not be enough to justify the effort of going through the process.
He couldn’t have been more wrong on the second point, but nevertheless, his objection held the process up.
Cuomo wasn’t anti-gambling per se, he was all for legalizing sports betting in the retail sector. Indeed, many upstate casinos were allowed to take sports bets as early as 2019, but this was easier to initiate constitutionally. New York’s constitution already allowed casino gambling, horse racing bets, and state lotteries, but when it came to the online sector things were less clear.
It wasn’t so much that Cuomo was against the idea of online betting, he just didn’t know how to start the process in a way that would be right and proper but also worthwhile.
In the end, it was decided that if the servers taking the online bets were located at the casinos, where gambling was already legal, this would bypass the issue of needing to change the constitution (and therefore have a referendum) because technically, all the bets coming from online would still be made at a retail location.
In 2021, Andrew Cuomo finally endorsed sports betting as part of his state budget address. That was in April, but it wasn’t until January of 2022 that the first online sportsbooks actually opened for business.
Impact of Covid and New Jersey
New Jersey was one of the first states to legalize online sports betting when PASPA was overturned in 2018, and given that the two states run into each other where the population is most dense, many New Yorkers would simply cross the state line in order to place bets.
This meant that New York was losing out on a lot of revenue to their neighbouring state, and many state officials were making noise about it. They wanted something to be done.
New York had a massive budget deficit, and then COVID-19 hit the country causing huge economical damage countrywide, but especially in New York where so much of their economy relied on tourism and residents spending their money on the high street.
The fiscal pressure was huge, and other states were enjoying huge revenues from gambling taxes having implemented sports betting years earlier, so the answer was staring them in the face.
These aspects all helped pile on the pressure to push the changes through.
Betting Tax
The Empire State has one of the highest taxes on sports betting in America, but because it is such a densely populated place, online bookies were chomping at the bit to get a license there nonetheless.
They would need to pay a massive 51% in tax, but the fact that companies are still able to make money shows just how much business there is to be done in New York. In fact, in the very first month after sports betting became legal, over $2 billion was wagered by New Yorkers – that’s in a single month.
It is now one of the largest betting markets in the country, even surpassing the likes of Nevada in terms of betting volume, and Nevada is pretty famous for gambling as everyone knows.
It’s not just the bookies who have to pay, punters are taxed on their winnings too. There is federal tax to be paid just like everywhere else in America, but state law dictates that any winnings must be declared as part of your income, so tax will be paid on winning bets in a round about way.
This high tax rate was one of the conditions of getting sports betting legalized in New York in the first place.
Initially, Cuomo wanted a state controlled model whereby just a single bookmaker, or a very small group of bookmakers, were given a license in order to reduce competition. This would mean bigger profits and therefore more income for the state.
However, other lawmakers and the bookmakers themselves wanted an open market model. The bookies obviously preferred this because they all believed they could dominate the market, while some lawmakers believed that the competition would actually create more revenue long term.
In the end, the compromise was that the open market model would go ahead, but the high tax rate of 51% would ensure the state got the large amounts of income they needed.
Bookies in New York
New York residents have several convenient options for betting on MLS matches, both in the retail sector and online.
There are a number of commercial and tribal casinos spread across New York that offer retail sportsbook lounges, including:
- Rivers Casino & Resort (Schenectady)
- Resorts World Catskills (Monticello)
- Yellow Brick Road Casino (Batavia)
- Turning Stone Resort Casino (Verona)
- Point Place Casino (Bridgeport)
At these venues and others like them, you can place bets at staffed teller windows or electronic kiosks within the sportsbook lounge areas, which feature big screen TVs, food/beverage service, and other amenities.
For most New York residents though, online and mobile betting apps offer the most flexibility and ease of use for wagering on MLS matches. The apps allow you to place bets from anywhere within state lines on your smartphone, tablet or computer.
The primary online sportsbook operators that have launched in New York’s mobile betting market include:
- FanDuel Sportsbook
- DraftKings Sportsbook
- BetMGM Sportsbook
- Caesars Sportsbook
- BetRivers Sportsbook
- PointsBet
- Bally Bet
- WynnBET
These platforms all provide comprehensive betting markets and odds for MLS matches. They also offer new user promos like deposit matches, risk-free bets, and odds boosts to attract customers.
MLS Teams in New York
New Yorkers are spoiled rotten in terms of local MLS action, and in fact, the MLS headquarters is located there too. The action is all very much focused in and around the big city though.
Perhaps it’s to be expected since New York City is one of the most famous places in America.
There are two franchises in the state: New York City FC, and New York Red Bulls. Bizarrely though, only one of those clubs has their stadium in New York. The Red Bull’s stadium is over the state border in Harrison, New Jersey, but is still considered a New York team. New York City FC share the Yankee Stadium with the baseball team, the New York Yankees, in the Bronx.
NYCFC were founded in 2013 becoming the 20th expansion team in MLS and winning their first MLS Cup in 2021. They are owned by City Football Group who also own Manchester City in the UK, one of the best teams in the world. They are also part owned by Yankee Global Enterprises who own the Yankee stadium, which explains the ground share arrangement with the baseball team of the same name.
The Red Bulls have a more interesting history, since they were one of the founders teams in MLS back in 1994. Back then they were known as the New York MetroStars, but when Red Bull bought the franchise in 2006 it was completely rebranded. Despite being one of the oldest clubs in the league they didn’t win a trophy until 2013, when they finally got hold of the Supporter’s Shield, but they also hold the record for the worst ever season in MLS history which they experienced in 1999.
Both clubs are located to the far south of the Empire State, so the majority of New Yorkers are probably located closer to clubs from others states, or even other countries. Those in the north, for example, are much closer to the likes of CF Montreal, while those to the west in places like Buffalo and Rochester have Toronto FC just across the border.