Gambling, once a high crime that sent thousands to jail for breaking the law, became a new law in New York last week when state politicians approved legalized mobile sports betting.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday the state estimates they can rake in $500 million by getting their share of gambling bets.
The report said the state’s Gaming Commission will select platform providers later this year. Reports indicate the frontrunners for the contract are DraftKings and FanDuel. New York magazine said about 50 percent of the profit will be shared with the state.
Sixteen other states already allow legal online betting.
“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to bet on the Super Bowl,” State Sen. Joe Addabbo, from Queens, told the paper.
“The law allows the state to directly operate mobile sports betting, so the $500,000,000 will go to the state rather than a lot of middlemen who operate mobile sports betting, which is what many other states have done,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “This is more like the state lottery, where we operate it and we get the resources.”
TRENDPOST: This is just another example of the long-noted hypocrisy of politicians who passed laws that prosecuted number runners and gambling operations to the fullest extent of the law but make it legal when they take over the operation, as with the lottery, or get their cut in online gambling.
