Real-money online casinos are illegal, but New Yorkers can enjoy similar games on sweepstakes casinos that are free-to-play and can result in cash prizes. Sites like Wow Vegas Casino, McLuck Casino, and High 5 Casino allow users to play slots and table games for free, claim free daily bonuses, and even potentially claim real-money prizes. These sites and games are available for anyone who is at least 18 years old.
New York Online Gambling 2024
New York online gambling is alive and well. But not to the full extent that it can be.
Legal sports betting has been live since early 2022 and has since become the No. 1 legal betting industry in the US, contributing over $2 billion in state tax revenue in just over two years. However, for those who want to play online casinos games such as slots, table games, or poker, legal options remain unavailable in the Empire State.
Over the past few years, lawmakers have introduced bills to legalize iGaming. For now, though, online casinos remain illegal. Optimism still abounds, as proponents aim for 2025 legalization of online casinos and online poker.
The state features a robust industry with four commercial casinos, tribal casinos, racetracks and racinos. The New York State budget has been finalized and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, which includes three new downstate casino licenses. The state issued an official request for applications in January 2023, and officials expect to hand out those licenses by the end of 2025.
Read on for all the latest on legal gambling in New York.
Top New York gambling sites
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Rank
Sportsbooks
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Features
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1
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3
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NY Gambling News
Legal Gambling in New York
Online Sportsbooks
Sportsbook apps are now live in New York. The nine winning sportsbooks include some of the biggest names in the US: DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetRivers, BetMGM, PointsBet and Caesars. The first eight online sportsbooks launched between January and March 2022, and the ninth NY betting app, Bally Bet, went live in early July. New customers of the New York sports betting market can expect welcome bonuses, promotions and apps.
New York Casinos
Online casinos are illegal, but New York is home to retail casinos, including tribal venues and racinos. Slots and table games are available at most locations; however, racinos feature video lottery terminals operated by the state lottery. Lawmakers introduced and will discuss bills to legalize online casinos in the state this year, but passage is unlikely. Your best bet is an online social casino, or visit NJ and PA, where real money online casinos exist.
New York Lottery
Lottery allows you to play scratchers, state-based draw games and multi-state draw games like Powerball and Mega Millions. The lottery was the first to break over the $10 billion mark for annual revenue in New York. Lottery tickets must be purchased in person in New York. However, you can set up a subscription account with the lottery commission and prepay for a certain number of tickets for future draws.
Horse Racing
New York is home to Belmont Park, the venue that hosts the third leg of the Triple Crown. New York is also where the Travers Stakes, hosted by Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs. In addition, Yonkers Raceway is the Yonkers Trot site. New Yorkers are blessed with riches for horse racing venues to visit. There is online horse betting in New York, too, with the best option at TVG.
NY Online Poker
New York online poker is not legal. However, a bill was introduced to legalize online poker by reclassifying it as a game of skill. Until the vertical is legalized, however, you can legally play at social/sweepstakes poker sites, such as Global Poker. Or you can travel to Pennsylvania and New Jersey to legally play on the WSOP or PokerStars sites. New York is home to several live poker rooms at several casinos in the state.
Resources
Daily fantasy sports, or DFS, has long been a topic of debate for gambling proponents and opponents around the country. New York is no exception, and the legality of the activity was murky for some time. That is, until March 2022, when the New York Court of Appeals deemed DFS constitutional in the Empire State. Days later, a bill amendment emerged to potentially bring more DFS operators to the state. As it stands, these brands offer daily fantasy sports in New York:
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
- Yahoo
- Fantasy Draft
- Draft
- Synkt Games, Inc. d/b/a letsRUMBL
- Fanamana, Inc.
- DataForce, LLC
- RealTime Fantasy Sports
- For Players By Players
- Vauntek, Inc.
- Sports Hub Technologies
- MastersFantasyLeagues.com
- Boom Fantasy
- Fulltime Fantasy Sports, LLC
Daily fantasy sports operators pay a 15% tax on gross gaming revenue. That money goes directly to the New York Lottery fund to provide aid to education to New York’s public schools.
As noted, New Yorkers only have a couple of legal options for playing casino games online. Sports betting sites are a work in progress, but on their way. Still, you might be wondering, “Why can I find online casinos and poker rooms when I search?” Simply put: Those sites are based outside of the US. While they accept New York players, they come with a host of problems that make them a bad idea. For one thing, there is no law permitting them to operate in New York. For another, you don’t have any way to use the state and federal legal systems to help you if anything goes wrong. Finally, you can never be sure if the sites are secure and can keep your information safe from hackers.