6 Groups Submit Bids For New York Sports Betting: What Investors Should Know With Cuomo's Resignation

One of the most anticipated states to bring online sports betting to its residents remains New York. The state is in the middle of receiving bids from parties for a license, a process that could now get messy with the resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

What Happened: Cuomo favored a limited operator model for New York with lawmakers pushing for more licenses. The parties compromised and are working on proposals towards what is expected to be four to six licenses. Lawmakers wanted up to 14 licenses for the state.

The questions on everyone’s minds are how does Cuomo’s resignation affect the timeline and should the bids be resubmitted. “There’s something that will change in days, not months, which would have been the case had there been impeachment proceedings,” state Sen. Joseph Addabbo told The Action Network.

The two weeks notice by Gov. Cuomo creates a set-in-stone end date for his term and could offer a timeline for the next steps in the sports betting process.

Addabbo is optimistic that the transition won’t affect the current timeline, which could bring sports betting to New York in February after the Super Bowl. “I need the online sports gambling product in New York to be top shelf from Day 1,” he said.

The current timeline sees the New York State Gaming Commission selecting finalists before Dec. 6 and giving them a week’s time to amend their proposals. Licenses would be awarded after that time.

Related Link: New York Could Legalize Sports Betting, A Look At Potential Winners And Losers 

The New York Bids: Residents of New York can make wagers at brick and mortar sportsbooks upstate and travel to New Jersey to make bets. This has resulted in a loss of tax revenue for the state and city of New York. With a limited number of licenses potentially up for grabs, many existing sports betting companies teamed up to create proposals to ensure they have a better shot at access to the large population in New York.

The six proposed groups are:

• Bet365
• Kambi, Fanatics, Penn National Gaming, Inc. PENN
• Betfair, FanDuel, Bally’s Corp BALY, Draftkings Inc DKNG and BetMGM from MGM Resorts International MGM
• The Stars Group, Fox Bet
• Kambi, Caesars Entertainment Inc CZR, Resorts World, PointsBet, Rush Street Interactive Inc. RSI and Wynn Bet, going public via SPAC merger with Austerlitz Acquisition Corp I AUS
• Score Bet from Score Media and Gaming Inc SCR, recently acquired by Penn National

Several companies are exposed to more than one of the proposed groups with Flutter Entertainment ADR PDYPY a member of groups three (Betfair, FanDuel) and four (both companies). Penn National is involved in the second and sixth proposals.

The December timeline and resubmitted bids could be worth watching for investors as it could offer a better picture of which companies could have access to the New York market.

Months ago, Cuomo’s resignation would have been seen as a positive for the online sports betting market in New York. Given the existing timeline, it doesn’t appear that his resignation will change things for better or worse.

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay