January 8th, 2022 saw a milestone reached in New York when legal online sports betting went live in the city for the first time.
In-person betting in the city went live back in 2019. So the addition of online sports betting sees New York become a major player in the USA betting market.
First to go live was FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, and BetRivers. All taking bets from January 8th.
BetMGM followed closely, going live last Monday (January 17th).
The results have already been spectacular. It’s been reported by GeoComply that in the first weekend of live online betting, New York saw nearly 8 million geolocation pings on betting sites in the city.
Even if the novelty wears off, that’s still an unbelievable start.
So what do we know about the journey to get to where we are now? Let’s take a look at the timeline.
Well, obviously the four remaining operators still to launch will be looking to do so as soon as possible.
The 2022 Super Bowl final is on Sunday, February 13th, and the operators obviously won’t want to miss that.
In a further twist, it was reported by analyst firm Regulus Partners, that some of the four original operators were taking unsustainable tax losses with their generous new customer offers.
With the four operators in direct competition, all starting on the same day, they wanted to grab as much of the market share as possible.
To do this, they made some unsustainable sports betting promotional offers. For example, one operator advertised up to $3,300 in bonuses using its promo codes.
This would be unsustainable in the long run, and these offers were just like free Christmas presents to smart gamblers.
Regulus said that as promotions are not tax-deductible in New York (they are in other states), these bonuses were the equivalent of a 130% tax rate of GGR.
The problem for the sportsbooks here is that customers aren’t bothered that new customers offers aren’t tax-deductible in New York, they just want a good offer.
The sportsbook has to take the hit there. Otherwise, they risk losing their market share to their rivals.
And if one rival pushes the boat out, the others have to try and match it.
In this instance, those with the deepest pockets were likely to be the winners.
This shows that the best sports betting sites operating in New York are prepared to gamble themselves on the long-term success of this particular market.
In the long run, the analysts at the sports betting sites will know the investment is worth making.
The figures reporting 8 million geolocation pings in the opening weekend of betting in New York back this up.
It’s reported that Draftkings expect it to be two to three years before they see a profit in New York. So this shows how the operators are playing the long game.
That suggests that even though the initial new customers’ bonanza can’t go on forever, it does lead us to think that it could be here for a while yet.
And when the remaining four players come online, it could get even better for New Yorkers.
BetMGM – who went live on January 17th – intends to use a dual approach to attracting new customers.
As well as the betting bonuses, the company also intends to use its position as a betting partner of Madison Square Garden to offer customers VIP experiences at selected events.
Madison Square Garden is home to the New York Knicks NBA team, and to the New York Rangers NHL side.
BetMGM plans to offer New York-based customers VIP experiences at the matches involving the Knicks and the Rangers.
This is a further incentive for native New Yorkers who may well support either or both of those sides, to sign up with that particular online betting app.
For more information about betting in New York and the USA, check out our US betting sites page.
About the Author
Dean is primarily a fan of English football who regularly attends games, and combining his hobby with his job, he is now a full-time sports betting writer. Rather than going down the educational route into sports journalism, Dean learned his trade by writing for his English football betting website since 2009, where he now boasts nearly 15 years of experience. After writing about football daily for years, Dean has taken the skills he learned and now uses them to great effect writing for numerous affiliate sites across the internet. A general all-around sports enthusiast with a passion for English football and cricket, Dean is also well able to turn his hand to writing about golf, tennis, F1, boxing, snooker, darts, and North American sports. Combining his extensive knowledge and experience with British humor and wit, Dean has developed into a trusted voice within the sports betting industry.
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