Sports Betting News

As New York gets set to join all the other places in the United States that have legalized and officially implemented online sports betting, they have taken yet another step toward finishing the entire process. It isn't one that will necessarily excite prospective bettors or sportsbook providers, but make no mistake, it is an important one—not to mention one of the last.

New York State has set final tax rates for online sports betting as of late October. Here's the thing: We don't yet know what those rates are. They only impact prospective betting providers, and because New York is still hammering out the bidding among commercial casinos and sportsbooks, they have so far kept the rate under wraps.

For bettors specifically, this may not seem very consequential. But it is. If New York's tax rate is extremely high, it could prove prohibitive when trying to draw in the business of top online sportsbooks. And if that happens, it could, in turn, slow the overall rollout process of legal online sports betting.

Is this actually what we should expect? Let's figure that out.