New York

Last verified September 27, 2026

By the Legal Sportsbooks US editorial team

New York

Online and retail

Legal since

July 2019 (retail); January 8, 2022 (online)

Minimum age

21 (18 for daily fantasy)

Regulator

New York State Gaming Commission

Licensed apps

8 online sportsbooks

State law

N.Y. Rac. Pari-Mut. Wag. & Breed. Law 1367 and 1367-a

Is sports betting legal in New York?

Yes, online and in person, at 21. Eight mobile sportsbooks hold New York State Gaming Commission licenses, and retail sportsbooks run at the four upstate commercial casinos and at tribal casinos. The first retail bets were placed at Rivers Casino in Schenectady on July 16, 2019, and mobile betting went live on January 8, 2022. Mobile operators pay 51% of gross gaming revenue in tax.

Where you can bet

New York law treats a mobile bet as placed where it is accepted: a wager made anywhere in the state has to be transmitted to and accepted by equipment at a licensed commercial casino. The Commission chooses operators through competitive bidding and sets the betting menu, including which player props are allowed. Eight apps take bets as of September 2026: FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM, Fanatics Sportsbook, BetRivers (Rush Street Interactive), Bally Bet and theScore Bet. The Commission's website still lists Resorts World Bet, which stopped taking bets on June 16, 2025 and shut down at the end of that month.

Retail sportsbooks operate at del Lago, Rivers Schenectady, Resorts World Catskills and Tioga Downs, and at tribal casinos under the tribes' gaming compacts. The Oneida Indian Nation opened its sportsbooks at Turning Stone and Point Place on August 1, 2019.

No bet may be placed on any event in which a New York college team plays, wherever it's held, or on any high school event. College tournament games in New York are open as long as no New York team is playing.

The 51% rate was set through the 2021 bidding. The statute's taxable revenue is wagers collected minus winnings paid, and there's no deduction for promotional credits. Revenue goes to education aid, except $5 million a year for youth sports and $6 million for problem gambling programs, by the Commission's count. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported on September 16, 2026 that mobile betting raised $1.3 billion in state tax in fiscal 2026, and that the state has doubled problem gambling funding to $12 million.

How New York legalized sports betting

The constitution and the 2013 casino law

Article I, section 9 of the state constitution bans "pool-selling, book-making, or any other kind of gambling" except as it authorizes, language that dates largely to 1894. On November 5, 2013, voters approved Proposal 1, which let the legislature authorize up to seven commercial casinos, 1,579,755 (57.11%) to 1,186,275 (42.89%). Gov. Andrew Cuomo had signed the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act (S.5883, chapter 174 of the Laws of 2013) on July 30, 2013. It added section 1367 to the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law, which authorized sports wagering at the new casinos but wouldn't take effect until a change in federal law or a court ruling that such betting was lawful.

Murphy and retail betting, 2018 to 2019

The Supreme Court struck down the federal ban in Murphy v. NCAA on May 14, 2018, which met the condition in section 1367. On June 10, 2019 the Gaming Commission approved sports wagering rules for the four upstate casinos licensed under the 2013 act, and Rivers Schenectady took the first bets five weeks later. Sen. Joseph Addabbo's S.17, which would have added mobile betting, passed the Senate in June 2019 but didn't get an Assembly vote.

The 2021 mobile model

Mobile betting arrived through the state budget: Part Y of chapter 59 of the Laws of 2021 (S.2509-C), signed April 19, 2021, added section 1367-a. It told the Commission to license at least two platform providers, scored in part on the tax rate they bid, with at least four operators in the market. Each platform provider pays a one-time $25 million fee, and licenses run for up to ten years. On November 8, 2021, the Commission approved nine operators: Bally Bet, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, Resorts World, Rush Street Interactive and WynnBet. Caesars, DraftKings, FanDuel and Rush Street launched at 9 a.m. on January 8, 2022.

Changes since 2022

The market has shrunk from nine to eight. Fanatics took over PointsBet's license after buying PointsBet's U.S. business in 2023, WynnBet's license was acquired for ESPN Bet, and Resorts World Bet closed in June 2025. The 51% rate hasn't changed. On December 5, 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed S.5935-A (chapter 605), which bans online sweepstakes casinos. Assembly bill A.9251, filed November 7, 2025 to set requirements and restrictions for prediction markets, was re-referred to the Consumer Affairs committee on January 7, 2026 and hasn't moved. In April 2026 Hochul signed an executive order barring state employees from insider trading on prediction markets.

Sports betting court cases in New York

Daily fantasy: People v. FanDuel and White v. Cuomo

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued DraftKings and FanDuel in New York County Supreme Court in 2015, calling paid daily fantasy contests illegal gambling. On December 11, 2015, Justice Manuel Mendez granted preliminary injunctions barring both companies from taking New York entry fees (People v. FanDuel, Index No. 453056/2015), and an Appellate Division justice stayed the order the same day. The state later dropped the gambling claims, and the legislature passed Article 14 of the Racing Law (S.8153, chapter 237 of the Laws of 2016), signed August 3, 2016, which declared fantasy contests games of skill and put them under the Gaming Commission.

Jennifer White and other plaintiffs then sued Gov. Cuomo and the Commission, arguing Article 14 violated the constitution's gambling ban. Albany County Supreme Court agreed in part in 2018 (62 Misc 3d 877), and the Appellate Division, Third Department, affirmed as modified on February 6, 2020 (181 AD3d 76). The Court of Appeals reversed on March 22, 2022 (White v. Cuomo, 2022 NY Slip Op 01954), 4 to 3. Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote that contests with entry fees and fixed prizes decided by roster-building skill are not constitutional "gambling." Judge Rowan Wilson's dissent, joined by Judges Jenny Rivera and Shirley Troutman, said "Everyone knows that sports betting is gambling."

KalshiEX LLC v. Williams (S.D.N.Y. and Second Circuit)

On October 24, 2025, Gaming Commission Executive Director Robert Williams ordered Kalshi to stop offering sports event contracts in New York as unlicensed sports wagering. Kalshi sued Williams and the commissioners on October 27 (No. 1:25-cv-08846), and on October 28 the state agreed not to enforce the letter until the court ruled. On July 7, 2026, Judge Analisa Torres denied a preliminary injunction. She held that Kalshi hadn't shown the Commodity Exchange Act preempts New York's gambling laws under field or conflict preemption, and she dismissed the Commission itself on Eleventh Amendment grounds. Kalshi appealed the same day (No. 26-1835). Torres denied an injunction pending appeal on July 27, and on July 29 a Second Circuit judge denied temporary relief and sent the motion to a three-judge panel; we found no panel ruling. Kalshi filed its opening brief August 31, and the CFTC filed an amicus brief on September 8. On September 3 the court ordered the appeal heard in tandem with Connecticut's Kalshi and Coinbase appeals (Nos. 26-2239 and 26-2297). The state's brief is due October 30, 2026.

United States v. New York (S.D.N.Y. No. 1:26-cv-03404)

The CFTC and the Justice Department sued New York, Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James and the Commission on April 24, 2026, arguing the CEA gives the CFTC exclusive authority over event contracts on designated contract markets, and moved for a preliminary injunction on May 1. Judge Jed Rakoff, sitting in Part I, denied the CFTC's emergency TRO from the bench on July 31. The case moved from Judge Victor Marrero to Judge Lorna Schofield, who let Coinbase, Gemini and the American Gaming Association file briefs and heard argument on September 14. We found no ruling as of September 27, 2026.

The Attorney General's suits

James sued Coinbase Financial Markets (No. 451604/2026) and Gemini Titan (No. 451603/2026) in New York County Supreme Court on April 21, 2026. Both removed to federal court (Nos. 1:26-cv-03300 and 1:26-cv-03318, before Schofield), and the state's remand motions, filed May 1, are pending. James and Hochul sued Kalshi on July 31, 2026, seeking treble fines, forfeiture and restitution; Kalshi removed that case the same day (No. 1:26-cv-06550, Judge Vernon Broderick), and the state's remand motion was fully briefed August 28. On August 11 the CFTC used its emergency powers to order Kalshi to keep operating under the CEA's core principles, saying New York sought an order barring Kalshi's event contracts nationwide and more than $36 billion in damages. On September 24, 2026, James and Hochul sued QCX LLC, which does business as Polymarket US, under Article I, section 9, the Penal Law, the Racing Law, Executive Law section 63(12) and the federal Wire Act. Polymarket removed the case (No. 1:26-cv-08338) and sued James and the commissioners the same day (No. 1:26-cv-08345).

Ludlow Exchange LLC v. James (S.D.N.Y. No. 1:26-cv-06676)

Ludlow Exchange, which does business as Novig, sued James, Williams and the commissioners on August 5, 2026, seeking a declaration that the CEA preempts state gambling law as applied to its contracts, and moved for a preliminary injunction on August 6. Its related-case filing says it hadn't received a cease-and-desist letter from the Commission. Judge Torres declined the case as unrelated, and Judge Colleen McMahon, who got it on August 10, denied a temporary restraining order on August 11, writing that after full briefing she "may or may not reach the same ultimate conclusion as Judge Torres." Briefing on the injunction closed with Novig's reply on September 24. We found no ruling.

Rulings from other circuits

Only the Second Circuit's decision will bind federal courts in New York. The Third Circuit sided with Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026 (KalshiEX v. Flaherty, No. 25-1922), and New Jersey's Supreme Court petition (No. 26-299) was docketed September 8, with Kalshi's response due November 9, 2026. The Ninth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in Nevada on August 28, 2026 (KalshiEX v. Assad, No. 25-7516).

Prediction markets and daily fantasy

New York treats sports event contracts as unlicensed sports wagering, and no federal court has blocked that position; Torres, Rakoff and McMahon each refused emergency relief, and the other motions haven't been decided. The court cases above cover Kalshi, Polymarket, Coinbase, Gemini and Novig, which the CFTC designated a contract market on June 16, 2026 (as Ludlow Exchange) and which takes users 21 and over with ID and builds no vig into its prices.

Daily fantasy is legal at 18 under Article 14 and the Court of Appeals' 2022 ruling. Operators register with the Gaming Commission and can't offer contests on college, high school or horse racing events.

Help with a gambling problem

The state's HOPEline runs 24/7: call 1-877-8-HOPENY (1-877-846-7369) or text HOPENY (467369).

Sources

Common questions

How we track and verify state laws

What does Legal Sportsbooks US track?

Every state's legal status, the date betting became legal, the minimum age, the regulator and the licensed apps, plus the legal history and court cases behind them, for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Our page on how we track and verify state laws explains the details.

What do the statuses mean?

Online and retail means licensed mobile apps and in-person sportsbooks both operate. Online only means betting happens through licensed apps, with no retail sportsbooks. Retail only means you can bet in person at licensed venues, but there's no statewide app. Not legal means no licensed sportsbooks operate. Legislation pending means a bill or ballot measure is moving, but betting hasn't launched. Not yet verified means we haven't confirmed the state's current status.

Can I bet on sports where I live?

The rules follow where you are when you place the bet. Licensed apps use geolocation to confirm you're inside a state where they can operate, and some states limit betting to certain premises. Find your state in the state index, or read our guide to location rules.

How old do you have to be to bet on sports?

It's 21 in 33 of the 40 jurisdictions with legal sports betting and 18 in five: Washington, D.C., Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming. In North Dakota and Washington, the tribal casino sets the age.

How current is the tracker?

State laws and licenses change, so every state entry records the date it was last verified. If a status looks out of date, the state regulator's website has the official answer.

Is this legal advice?

No. We summarize public information about state sports betting laws. Confirm the rules with your state regulator before you bet, and don't wager more than you can afford to lose.