It all started in 2018, when the US Supreme Court allowed the individual states to decide whether to legalise sports betting in their own territories.
The floodgates of sports wagering were finally opened to an extent – and to date 23 states have taken advantage of the rule change and legalised online sports betting in their own patch.
New York State began to legalise sports betting in 2019. This started slowly, with the legalisation of physical sports betting shops at its licensed commercial and tribal casino sites.
By 2021 there was pressure to allow online gambling too. So in April 2021 Governor Andrew Cuomo pushed through the legalisation of online sports betting across the state too.
It took until January 2022 for the mobile sports betting operators to finally hit the New York mobile world. The first sportsbooks in the state were Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetRivers.
At the latest count New York State now has nine fully legal online sports betting operators.
They can take wagers from anywhere in the state. Sports bets can also be made at licensed casinos in the state.
It started slowly but this sudden boom has made New York the American state that has embraced sports betting with the most fervour. It’s actually now the US state with the biggest monthly sports betting turnover.
Anyone interested in the New York sports betting scene is likely to be a fan of one of the big American sports, baseball, football, basketball and hockey. They’ll probably follow local teams like the Yankees, Mets, Jets, nets, Giants, Knicks, Sabres, Islanders and Rangers.
But when they choose which sportsbook to use, what are the most important things to consider?
Everyone has different preferences – so we talked to industry experts to judge which sportsbooks are the best for different needs:
Best for betting on New York teams
If you’re simply looking for a place to bet on local favorites, DraftKings and FanDuel are best choices. Both have partnerships with New York pro teams, and FanDuel itself is headquartered in New York City.
Best for odds
You should always shop around to compare the lines, but Caesars and PointsBet tend to pay the closest attention to keeping the odds competitive and appealing.
Best for variety
BetMGM and BetRivers have the largest menus of sports available for punters. They also have all the weird and wonderful bet types you could ask for.
Best for usability
Whether you use the web or your mobile, the DraftKings and FanDuel platforms are very smooth to operate. Glitches are at a minimum. Experts have judged that both of these apps rank highly for aesthetics, user experience, and app features.
Best sportsbook for regular promotions
Caesars and BetMGM offer great promotional opportunities – and not just when you’re signing up.
Using Bitcoin
Players wanting to make deposits in crypto currency have limited opportunity in the current New York sportsbook scene.
BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings are known to be considering allowing crypto as legal tender – but nothing has been set up in New York yet.
What are the advantages of using crypto?
It will be up to individual sportsbook operators if and when they will decide to use crypto currencies. Most industry observers think it would be likely for the New York sportsbooks to be among the first to try the alternative currencies.
There may be legal concerns with state legislation to be ironed out first though. The state of Wyoming has allowed crypto payments for its new sports betting scene – but it took three years to amend state laws to allow its use.
Wyoming may be far less populous than NY, but it is being seen as a bit of an experiment by the other states.
So will the improvements in funding and withdrawals lead to crypto’s spread across the rest of the country?
Blockchain transactions should prove to be faster and more secure for operators and customers.
The sportsbook operators will be able to reduce their costs by adopting the new currencies too. Crypto avoids the costs of processing credit cards and dealing with regular financial institutions.
These lower costs for operators will translate to more profits. More profits mean more tax income for the state authorities.
And more money for the state coffers is a hefty incentive for change. The latest figures at the time of writing report that sports betting in NY has already topped $1.5 billion a month.
With tax revenues being considered of around 30%, the state is set to make big revenues of its own from booming sportsbooks.
So it looks like everyone is set to benefit from sportsbooks’ adoption of crypto currencies.
We’re not giving odds on this one just yet – but crypto sports betting in New York doesn’t look too far away.
