New York Sports Betting Is About To Make History

The New York sports betting market may be on the verge of changing the gambling industry forever.

Assemblymember Alex Bores recently introduced a measure called the Fair Play Act. If successful, the initiative will bar online sports betting sites in the United States as well as retail sportsbooks from banning or limiting the sizes of wagers unless the restrictions are related to problem gambling or illicit-sports activity.

In the event this concept sounds new to you, that’s because it is new. The New York sports betting scene would be the first to adopt such a bill. Like always, though, the question now comes: Can the Fair Play Act receive the support required to pass?

Why the Fair Play Act is on the New York Sports Betting Agenda

The Fair Play Act deviates from a lot of other measures proposed in recent years. So many pieces of legislation predominantly focus on problem gambling itself, sports betting tax rates, and even individual gambling limits and extensive financial background checks as a form of consumer protection.

This bill is another method of consumer protection. After extensively studying sports betting in New York, Bores says that he is trying to even the playing field for customers and ensure constituents are served fairly. Here is what he told Sam McQuillan of Legal Sports Report:

“It just seemed like a fundamentally unfair proposition that these companies would advertise the idea that you could win a lot of money..and then on top of that, these books are regularly banning the people who are winning. Winners keep the books honest. Without them, it’s like having a stock market where you could only buy, not sell — you need both sides of the market for there to be a fair field.”

Bores’ stock market analogy is oddly, if a little ironically, timed. Sports prediction markets are taking the industry by storm. State regulators believe the event-based contracts offered by prediction-market operators are skirting sports betting laws. The contract providers, meanwhile, believe they are subject to federal regulation rather than state oversight.

At any rate, what Bores describes here is something that seldom gets discussed in the mainstream. Sportsbooks bans are so frequently painted as the byproduct of a scandal. Some are even packaged as self-imposed, where problem gamblers remove themselves by volunteering to join a banned list.

The Fair Play Act, on the other hand, highlights another side of the industry: The one that seeks to weed out winners.

Sportsbooks are Already Pushing Back Against the Fair Play Act

Not surprisingly, sportsbooks in New York are not happy with this proposed piece of legislation. While this bill does not directly raise their overhead via tax hikes or through the cost of conducting background checks, it does prevent from banning players they believe have too much of an edge. As McQuillan writes:

“Sportsbooks often argue limits are necessary when bettors gain too much of an edge. It is an industry-wide practice nearly every major operator uses to protect their margins from sharp players who hunt for pricing mistakes. Casinos have long reserved the same right at the tables, quietly backing off or showing the door to gamblers who beat them too often. ‘People who are doing this for profit are not the players we want,’ a message DraftKings CEO Jason Robins has reiterated over the years to investors.

“The proposal is a lock to draw heavy opposition from the gambling lobby, which maintains [that] limiting is essential for managing risk. Bores said he is open to good-faith conversations with the sportsbooks but expects heavy opposition. ‘Whether or not it is the best policy, they may come extremely loudly against anything threatening profitability,’ he said. ‘Their most effective tactic has often been mobilizing their users against restrictions, sometimes by outright lying about what a policy does. I think this case is different. It’s clearly a very pro-user policy.’”

While New York sports betting operators will surely oppose the Fair Play Act, the support among Bores’ peers is a different story. On the one hand, billion-dollar companies lamenting a customer’s earning potential is rather cringey. Especially when it doesn’t necessarily work both ways. Sportsbooks have an obligation to prevent problem-gambling habits, but it is not one enforced religiously.

Expect Other States to Follow New York’s Lead

We will know more on the fate of the Fair Play Act when the New York State legislature reconvenes in January. But if the initiative gets through, you better believe other states are going to follow suit.

In fact, we are a little surprised that the policymakers have not already proposed something similar for sports betting in Massachusetts. The Bay State is among those who most aggressively regulate the sports gambling industry. This bill seems right up their alley. That might even be an understatement. Massachusetts is at the forefront of pushing for individual gambling limits. They are also one of the states advocating for sportsbooks to carry out extensive background checks, in hopes of preventing problem gambling before it occurs.

On the flip side, if the New York sports betting market actually adopts it, the Fair Play Act will, in all likelihood, be right up plenty of other states’ alleys too.

Take a look at this list of the top online sportsbooks so you can find one that works for all of your sports betting needs: