Betting Kiosks Coming to Madison Square Garden?

Apparently, New York plans to expand the gambling opportunities in the state, so sports betting will probably soon come to popular sports venues like Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium.

NY Assemblyman, Gary Pretlow, introduced a new sports betting bill named A06113, that would, if ed, enable placing wagers on sports events via mobile devices.

The new bill would also allow racetracks and other commercial facilities to gain permission to offer sports betting, besides casinos. Currently, there are four casinos in the New York area.

Also, the plan is to install sports gambling kiosks that would give the opportunity to all NYC gamblers to place their wagers in person.

Beginnings of Sports Betting in NYC

Sports gambling was approved in NYC back in 2013 when an amendment that allowed commercial casinos gained enough votes to become official.

After that, four casinos were opened in the area and it was always the plan to launch sportsbooks in those venues. But, that plan became reality five years after…

…when the US Supreme Court lifted the ban on sports betting and overturned PASPA in May of 2018.

When the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was lifted, the New York Gaming Commission issued the new regulations in January of this year with the plan to allow sports betting at the casinos.

But nothing has majorly changed yet, because state governor, Andrew Como, says that the legalization of sports betting needs another constitutional amendment in the state.

A Word from the Assemblyman

“Maybe [Cuomo] won’t veto it. Maybe we can override his veto. A lot of things can happen. But if we don’t try something, it’s never going to happen,” Pretlow commented.

“I have it on good authority that the governor, who has heretofore said it was unconstitutional, has backed away from that. We’ve not heard the governor say anything about it being unconstitutional in the past few days,” he added.

Governor Won’t Change His Mind

The governor’s office provided a statement that Governor Como hasn’t changed his mind regarding this issue and that his veto is still on.

On the other hand, Pretlow was really eager to reach lawmakers during the past few months…

…while trying to legalize online poker and sports gambling in NYC. He has coming from Senator, Joseph Addabbo.

The two have a plan to enable the state to gain money from gambling revenue and boost its budget that the government would then use for other necessary things.

Online Poker Bill

Pretlow has also introduced a bill A04924 in February this year that would legalize online poker in New York.

Launching a licensing process by the New York State Gaming Commission means it could also apply to video lottery gaming and interactive gaming, allowing operators to launch new products and services.

Source:

“Betting kiosks could be coming to Madison Square Garden”, Erik Gibbs, calvinayre.com, March 5, 2019.