A new survey shows that the majority of New Yorkers want to see legal online sports betting allowed in the state. Some 61% of those polled stated that adults should be allowed to place bets on sports online. The Parkside Group and Anzalone Liszt Grove Research ran the poll, which was commissioned by two of the country’s most popular bookmakers, FanDuel and DraftKings.
It was interesting to see that most of those surveyed disagreed with Governor Andrew Cuomo who has continued to raise concerns about online sports betting in his state. They think that legislatures should be allowed to pass legislation and it should not need to become an issue for a constitutional amendment, as Governor Cuomo suggests.
Under current rules in New York, anyone wanting to gamble on sports needs to travel out of state or use unregulated offshore websites to place their bets.
The study also found that the state is losing around $200 million by not legalizing online sports betting. With its budget deficit of around $6 billion, the governor should be willing to at least consider sports betting as a source of income for the cash-strapped state.
Legislators believe that if the question of sports betting is not added to the state budget debates by April 1st, there are slim chances that New Yorkers will see legal sports betting next year.
