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• Year New York Regulated Gambling: Racing (1959), Lottery (1966), Off-track betting (1970), Tribal Casinos (1993), Racinos (2001), Commercial Casinos (2013)
• Estimated Tax Revenue from Gambling: $4.2 billion
• Estimated Gambling Revenue: $10.8 billion
• New York Gambling Age: 18 for lottery and racing, 18-21 for casinos. No minimum age for charity gaming.
• Smoking ban: New York bans smoking in all indoor businesses. It does not apply to tribal casinos.
• New York Online gambling: Horse racing is the only form of legalized online gambling in New York

1. New York Gambling News
2. Sports Gambling New York
3. Gambling New York City
4. Gambling In New York State
5. New York Online Gambling

New York Gambling laws play a large role in the entertainment scene. New York is a bustling metropolis filled with exciting things to do. One of the most exciting industries in this state is the ever growing gambling. As with any gambling law, New York legislators could change their minds on online casinos. Neighboring New Jersey already records millions of dollars in bets each month through online casino games. A sizable portion of their players cross over from New York. This could jump start interest in legal online casinos, but that could be years away.

New York Casino Locations: New York City, Hogansburg, Batavia, Yonkers, Hamburg, Farmington, Union Springs, Akwesasne, Monticello, Ozone Park, Saratoga Springs, Salamanca, Buffalo, Irving, Cuba, Niagara Falls, Nichols, Verona, Vernon and Chittenango. With 14 New York casinos, and more on the way, there are plenty of gambling options for residents and visitors.

New York gambling is one of the most profitable industries in the country. It’s lottery sales are in the $9 billion range each year. Resorts World is the most profitable slots-only New York casino in the country.

New York voters approved a massive gambling expansion in November 2013. This will add seven more New York casinos in resort corridors within the state. The licensing process began in 2015. There are already nine New York racinos and five Native American casinos.

New York also permits horse racing and charity gaming. There are four tracks that hold regular races. Several others continue with off-track betting to maintain racino status.

Paying Gambling Taxes in New York

Did you know that your gambling income is taxable? Learn everything you need to know about paying your taxes on your gambling winning straight from a Certified Public Accountant in our exclusive Gambling Taxes article.

New York Casinos Map & Guide

• Resorts World
• Empire City
• Turning Stone
• Seneca Buffalo Creek
• Hamburg Gaming

• Number of B&M Casinos: 14
• Number of Poker Rooms: 6
• Number of Indian Casinos: 5

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Types of New York Online Gambling Allowed

The only form of legal online gambling New York is off-track betting on horses. TVG, TwinSpires, BetAmerica, and XpressBet all accept these types of bets. There are some restrictions on races held within New York. Those are off the board to encourage attendance at the tracks.

Daily fantasy sports are illegal in New York, according to State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. He declared the contests illegal in November 2015. DraftKings and FanDuel were ordered out of the state. These two sites decided to challenge the opinion. The courts issued a stay that permitted the companies to remain in the state. It seems that a decision has been made and DFS sites can legally operate in New York.

Online casinos, poker, and sports betting sites that accept New York players are not licensed. These websites are widely believed to be illegal in the state.

Types of Live New York Gambling

• Slots: Yes
• Blackjack: Yes
• Poker: Yes
• Craps/Roulette: Yes
• Horses: Yes
• Lottery: Yes

The New York Lottery is among the most profitable in the country. It sells instant games through scratch-offs and lotto drawings. There are statewide lotto games that include Take5, Win 4, and Pick 10. The New York Lottery also sells lotto tickets for interstate drawings. These include Mega Millions and Powerball. There are more than 18,000 lottery retailers in the state.

There are four New York racetracks that offer live racing; Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, Yonkers Raceway, and Aqueduct Racetrack. Off-track betting and slots, video poker and electronic table games are also available at these venues. There are five other mostly-shuttered tracks that also offer New York racinos.

There are five Native American casinos in Upstate New York that offer casinos. These establishments are permitted to offer more casino games than the tracks. In addition to slots, video poker and electronic table games, these venues may offer live poker, craps, roulette, blackjack and other table games that use cards and are banked by the house. There are plenty of other New York casinos spread throughout the state that players can visit.

The only other form of gambling legal in New York is through charities. Raffles, bingo, and pull-tab games are permitted.

New York Gambling Laws

The New York Constitution only permits forms of gambling that are specifically legalized by voters. Other than that, New York gambling laws state that games of chance are illegal. Most gambling crimes are a misdemeanor in the state. Promoting gambling is a ClassE felony. The state attorney general of the U.S. Attorney’s Office may initiate charges against individuals or companies that commit crimes related to gambling.

New York Gambling News

New York gambling laws forbid sports pools and games determined by a material degree of chance. This is the language that daily fantasy sports sites are fighting. These companies claim that the outcome of daily fantasy sports contests is mostly skill and not any material degree related to chance.

The New York Constitution permits state lotteries, live horse racing, off-track betting, Native American casinos, and racinos. In 2013, voters approved the addition of seven resort New York casinos.

List of New York Casinos

There are four New York racetracks that offer live racing and race books, and six other racetracks that offer full casino services. There are other Native American New York casinos that are spread throughout the state, with plenty of casinos in Upstate New York.

Find the casino nearest to you by looking at our general guide below, or use our New York casinos map for more detailed directions.

History of New York Gambling

Sports Gambling New York

Gambling in New York was first recorded in 1655. That is when a horse track at Newmarket located in the Hempstead Plains opened. That area is known as Queens today. Horseracing did not remain legal from that time, however, Belmont Park, one of the most well-known tracks in the world, opened in 1905 and has operated ever since.

Betting at Belmont Park did not become fully legal until 1959. It was the first form of legalized gambling in the modern era in New York.

A state lottery was created by voters in November 1966. It passed by more than a 60 percent margin. The first tickets were sold the following year. It has since raised more than $35 billion for the state’s public schools.

New York became the first state outside Nevada to permit off-track betting on horses. This type of wagering would become a staple in New York City. That local government opened more than 100 betting shops that accepted wagers on races across the country. These were a part of life in the largest city in America. TV shows like Seinfeld and Law and Order regularly featured these establishments. Regional casinos, including one at Aqueduct, cannibalized the revenues once enjoyed by New York’s OTBs.

The expansion of gambling machines to tracks like Aqueduct put an end to these businesses. The last New York OTB betting shop closed in 2010. There have been some private attempts to reopen the most profitable storefronts in recent years.

New York was home to the most infamous online gambling bust in the world. Preet Bharara of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed indictments against the three largest U.S.-facing online poker rooms on April 15, 2011. This action shut down Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. It ran PokerStars, the largest poker site in the world, out of the U.S. market. This generated $547 million in fines for the U.S. Government. The action was called Black Friday.

In November 2013, New York voters approved the addition of seven commercial casinos in the state. These licensees will be able to spread the same games as Upstate New York casinos.

In November 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman determined that daily fantasy sports violated state law. FanDuel and DraftKings dispute this opinion. Both filed suit against the state for declaratory judgment. The case is working its way through the court system. In the meantime, the companies received a stay that allows them to remain in the New York market. Payment processors have run for the door while the legal battle continues.

New York Casinos & Gambling FAQ

New York has legalized live horse racing, off-track betting, a state lottery, tribal casinos, racinos and commercial casinos.

The minimum New York gambling age is 18 years to play the lottery or bet on horses. The minimum gambling age in New York for casinos is 18 years; unless alcohol is served, then it is 21 years. Charity gaming has no minimum age.

The only form of legal online betting in New York is off-track betting on horses.

TVG, TwinSpires, BetAmerica and XpressBet are all licensed to accept wagers in New York.

Racetracks with gaming licenses may spread slots, video poker and electronic table games.

The state’s tribal casinos and future commercial ones may spread slots, video poker, electronic table games, live poker, craps, roulette, blackjack, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, Pai Gow, baccarat and any other table game approved by regulators.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York filed indictments against PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker on April 15, 2011. The charges were connected to illegal payment processing. The action put Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker out of business. Full Tilt was bailed by PokerStars through a $731 million settlement. Absolute Poker players and those that deposited through UltimateBet were stiffed.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman published an opinion that daily fantasy sports sites are illegal in November 2015. FanDuel and DraftKings refute this assertion. The case is working its way through the court system. In the meantime, daily fantasy sports sites remain in the market.

New York is home to a number of regulated gambling markets. The state’s lottery is popular and long-lived. Pari-mutuel wagering is practically a state pastime. Tribal gambling and class-II commercial gambling is easily-accessible for most of the state’s millions of citizens. Charitable games are regulated but allowed, and quite popular under liberal legal conditions.

But some areas of state law are not as clear. In order to understand the legality of more modern contests like daily fantasy sports or online gambling in general, we need to understand the spirit of New York’s criminal code and not just the letter of its code of laws.

New York state law defines gambling as “… the risking of something of value on a future outcome” that is beyond the control of influence of the bettor. In order to be illegal gambling, there must be an expectation of something of value “if a certain outcome occurs.” The longer definition is available in Section 225.00(2) of the state constitution.

Since the full definition includes a requirement that a person be wagering on a “contest of chance,” it’s nice that the phrase contest of chance is defined further down in the law. A game is a contest of chance if “… the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may also be a factor therein.”

Gambling New York City

We added some emphasis there to showcase that basically any game that involves even the slightest chance element is considered illegal gambling. In other words, there is no consideration for skill involved in a game. Unless New York legislators legalize a gambling game, it is illegal.

Gambling In New York State

As for the state’s legal gaming options, the most popular is the New York Lottery. More New Yorkers buy lottery tickets than citizens of any state, with greater than 92% participation, according to figures released by the state each summer. New York’s lottery is the second-oldest in the country, active since the late 1960s.

New York Online Gambling

The second most-popular legal gamble for New Yorkers is the state’s twenty tribal facilities. Some of these are tiny racinos, with a few slot and video poker games alongside a simulcast betting window. Still others are massive Vegas-style resorts with giant gaming floors, live dealer tables, and thousands of slot and video poker titles.

Charitable gambling laws in the state are such that operators of charitable games are allowed to offer raffles, bingo, and select casino-style games that benefit a rotating schedule of non-profit groups. This has led to a local industry specializing in the operation of charity events in static locations. Charitable laws are complex, and if you want to operate one legally you’ll need a specific permit from the city.

Social gambling is not allowed in New York, by law. A single line was added to existing gaming laws in the 1990s that explicitly outlawed the practice of hosting private games of chance and skill in a home or business, even with a legitimate relationship between all players or in cases where a game without house odds is played and the host isn’t compensated at all. New York has some of the toughest anti-private gambling laws in the country.