New York Sports Gambling Choices: Update on 9 Legalized Books

Posted on: January 4, 2023, 11:34h. 

Last updated on: January 4, 2023, 11:38h.

Chris Sheridan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Live Casinos, Sports Betting.

Confusion reigns in the NFL this morning, because nobody is quite sure how and when the Bills-Bengals game is going to be resumed. The game was suspended when Bills player Damar Hamlin was injured and suffered a cardiac arrest on the field.

And it must be resumed in order to properly seed the teams from the AFC prior to the start of the playoffs two weekends from now. The NFL has a scheduling challenge on its hands, to say the least.

But confusion is not limited to the NFL.

For those who gamble on sports in the state of New York, keeping up with the changes and adjustments being made by the nine legalized sportsbooks is a daunting task. But because we strive to be your go-to source for understanding the wagering dynamics in the Empire State, we are bringing you this update today and pulling no punches as we close in on the one-year anniversary of sports gambling going live in New York.

RELATED: CASINO.ORG’s New York Sports Gambling Hub

With our juice among key New York lawmakers on the state gaming commission, we are striving to get online poker restored in New York. And that means our followers can take part in events such as this:

https://twitter.com/Casino_Org/status/1610622212213448705

How Have The Nine Sportsbooks Evolved in the Past Year?

Let’s take them one at a time. Some have done better than others.

DRAFT KINGS SPORTSBOOK: These folks are one of the top players in the business, and their partnerships with various leagues and teams around the US sports scene is exceptional. But their software currently cannot handle bonus codes for existing players, and signing up new users is so 2022. What we like most are the profit boots available almost daily (the are offering a bonus bet today if you wager on the NBA and lose) and the alternate spreads and player prop lines, especially when it comes to wagering on the NFL. They are not going away, but they have to stop chasing new customers. Everyone in New York who wants to gamble is already doing so.

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK: They lost one of the best public relations people in the business, Kevin Hennessy, who left for BetFanatics, and they have stopped being forthcoming with the type of data that helps sports gambling journalists explain trends and splits to their readers. Their customer service in New York also has fallen off a cliff. Yesterday, we tried to get a question answered in the chat server and we were told we were 99+ in the queue. So we sent an email that went unanswered. They are making strides for FanDuel TV and remain a great Daily Fantasy Sports site. But they are not allowing users the freedom to select the player prop parlays of their choosing.

POINTSBET: Two years ago, their “Name a Bet” option was wonderful, because it actually worked. Lately, we have been trying to get them to accept wagers that are not on their regular boards, and those requests have repeatedly been denied. Still, on NFL Sundays, they are often the best place to build player prop parlays of the user’s choosing. Their partnership with NBC Sports should be serving them better. But NBC Sports is a little too tied up in Olympics coverage to be a go-to network for much more than Premier League soccer, NASCAR, and golf. This hinders them in New York.

BETMGM.COM: We are told that they lost hundreds of millions of dollars in New York in 2022 because of the bonus money sign-ups that were given away and taxed at 51%, but they are not going away. As we detailed in this article about Jay-Z going after a casino in Times Square, MGM Resorts is practically guaranteed to have a full casino license at Empire City Casino in Yonkers, N.Y. by the end of 2023. MGM bought that property from the Rooney family, which owns the Pittsburgh Steelers. It contains several acres of unused land that can be developed into hotels, while still keeping the horse barns that house the trotters and pacers that compete on-site at Yonkers Raceway. In sports gambling, they do not allow users to build their own player props, which they need to change. On site at Empire City, they are using video lottery terminals rather than actual casino-grade slot machines.

https://twitter.com/EmpireCCasino/status/1610402817084215296

CAESARS: Over the next several years, as more companies exit the sports gambling business the same way MaximBet and FuboTV did, there will be survivors … and Caesars is to big and too powerful to fail. But in order to open an account, you must first log into WilliamHill.com, and not many people know that. If you go to CaesarsSportsbook.com, you need to click around a bit before you are redirected to WilliamHill.com, which can be unsettling to users unfamiliar with the merger of those two companies. On sports betting, they offer a variety of player prop parlays with boosts. But again, the user cannot select the player prop parlay choices. Like FanDuel, you are limited to the player prop combos that they have chosen.

WYNNBET: Player prop combos do not prevent you from making same-game parlays involving more than one player from a single game. But the choices available are quite limited. Tonight, for example, there are no props on Giannis Antetokounmpo against Toronto, and there are no player props whatsoever on the Thunder vs. Orlando. This is fixable, and this site is somewhat of a hidden gem when crossing state lines for Player Award props. Their lines are often better than the bigger books. Like PointsBet, they have a power hour with reduced juice, but it is from 5 p.m.-6 p.m., when many New Yorkers are commuting.

BETRIVERS: Rush Street Gaming in Chicago owns this outfit, and they have former WFAN host Mike Francesa doing a New York-themed podcast for them. But their advertising has been spotty when compared to DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars. Their promotions are quite creative, such as one which allows a full refund if only one leg of a 4+ leg NFL parlay fails to hit. They are loose with their same-game parley restrictions on player props. But the site is difficult to navigate and needs a design update. They are a diamond in the rough in some ways.

RESORTS WORLD BET: Loyal users get access to a “Lightning Booster” that can be used once per day in same-game parlays, and they are the most liberal of the New York sportsbooks in allowing users to make multiple choices from the same game. They are not a high-profile outlet because of their lack of advertising, but they also are a hidden gem for those who want to make their own player prop parlays. Here’s hoping that the bigger books follow their lead, though we are not holding our breath on that one.

BALLYBET: In a word: An abomination. They were the last of the nine sportsbooks to go online, waiting until July. Word on the street is that they are going to be sold, as Bally’s acquisition of the former FoxSports Regional Sports Networks was ill-timed in the age of cord-cutting. When they were applying for their New York license, they were telling the state Gaming Commission they wanted to corner the market on tennis gambling. But if you can find 10 people who are avid tennis gamblers, you run in a very exclusive circle. Will be interesting to see what they are rebranded in a year from now if they are indeed sold. Right now, they do not even have Super Bowl futures on the board. This screenshot was taken this morning.