N.Y. Gaming Commission approves final sports betting regulations for upstate casinos

The New York Gaming Commission on Monday issued its final approval for a set of regulations that will govern sports betting at four upstate casinos that were authorized in 2013, paving the way for sports betting in the state by later this year.

The regulations will permit in-person betting at Del Lago, Rivers, Tioga Downs, and Resorts World Catskills, the four casinos upstate that opened after legislators passed a law six years ago expanding casino operations in the state. The rules will now be published in the state register, and the commission is expected to begin considering license applications within months.

Bills that would allow for gambling at other casinos in the state, and in one case, racetracks, are currently stalled in the state legislature, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo continuing to press the case that such an expansion would need a constitutional amendment, which requires passage of legislation in two consecutive legislatures and a voter referendum. The law passed in 2013 included a provision allowing for sports betting at the new facilities provided the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law banning states from allowing the practice, which occurred last year.

Racetracks are eager to be included in the list of facilities that are allowed to offer sports wagering so as not to be put at a competitive disadvantage with other gambling locations. Racetracks in New Jersey began offering sports wagering last year, shortly after the Supreme Court decision.

Because of the state’s gambling compact with Native American tribes, the seven casinos in New York operated by tribes will also be allowed to offer sports wagering once the upstate casinos open their own sports books.

* Also at the gambling commission meeting on Monday, Dr. Scott Palmer, the commission’s equine medical director, provided commissioners with an update on the effects of an exemption granted to the New York Racing Association to increase purses in certain claiming races, above a purse-to-claiming price ratio exceeding the current limit of 2.

Palmer said that NYRA has so far run 22 races that were exempted from the cap, with a total of 142 horses running in the races, for an average field size of 6.5 horses. No horse suffered a catastrophic injury in the races, though one horse was vanned off with a non-fatal injury, Palmer said. A total of 16 horses were scratched from the races after being entered, Palmer said, including 14 veterinary scratches, a catch-all category encompassing soundness issues and illnesses.

Palmer said that the horses entered in the races are subject to additional levels of scrutiny over and above current pre-race protocols, including the requirement that a person with thorough knowledge of the horse’s history be present for pre-race exams.
NYRA applied for a rule change allowing for limited exemptions from the ratio cap in order to compete with racetracks in the area that do not have a cap, such as those in Pennsylvania. NYRA had argued that its competitors were drawing horses away from its tracks because of their higher purses.

“It resonated with us that New York was at a disadvantage,” Dr. Palmer said.

* The commission’s executive director, Robert Williams, updated commissioners on an effort to gauge the opinion of the state’s racing industry constituencies on a plan announced by a coalition of racetracks across the U.S., including NYRA, to push for partial bans on the use of raceday furosemide, the diuretic that is used in North America to mitigate bleeding in the lungs. Williams said the commission has sent 150 letters to racing organizations and individuals to obtain responses, and he said that he would update the commission on the responses at their next meeting in July.

Williams said that the commission had already received 17 responses.

“The first glance finds that the comments are on both sides of the issue,” Williams said.