New York Sports Betting Guide

NY Betting Guide

By the end of this guide, you’ll find out the legal status of sports gambling in New York, along with where it’s legal to bet on sports. All this information will help you place your wagers more smoothly if you’re in New York and yearning to place a wager with one of the many sports betting options that exist statewide.

Is Sports Betting Legal In New York?

Sports betting is legal in New York and has been since 2013 when state lawmakers first legalized in-person sports wagering at some of the casinos upstate. Bettors in the state had to wait until 2019 to actually place bets at those locations after PASPA was taken off of the books by the United States Supreme Court. At that point, online sports betting hadn’t yet been made legal in the state, though.

In 2021, online sports betting was made legal by the New York State government, allowing bettors to place their wagers online through the sportsbooks that were approved to operate in the state. Later that year, a group of nine sportsbooks was selected to operate legally in the state, giving bettors in New York a nice list of sports gambling options.

New York betting finally went live online in January of 2022, when four sportsbooks went live on January 8, 2022. Those four sportsbooks were DraftKings, FanDuel, BetRivers, and Caesars Sportsbook. Since then, PointsBet has also launched in the state as of January 17, 2022. These bookmakers have combined to give New York betting enthusiasts plenty of options off the bat, with more options soon to come.

How To Start Betting In New York

To start betting in New York, you must first meet the state’s legal requirements for New York sports betting. You must be 21 years of age or older to place sports bets legally in this state and must be located within the state of New York when attempting to place bets in order for them to be accepted. As long as those requirements are met, accessing the sports betting New York bettors are permitted to utilize is easy to do.

The first step is for you to download one of the sports betting apps that are operational in New York State. There are several options to choose from when selecting which sportsbook to use, or you can use all of the active sportsbooks in the state and compare the odds from one site to the next. Either way, once you have downloaded an app, it’s time to create an account.

To create an account with one of the legal sportsbooks in New York, you’ll want to hit the Register button at one of those sites. You’ll then be prompted to provide your personal information, which helps you create an account that’s unique to you, while also verifying to the bookmakers you’re indeed the person signing up. Once you’ve entered your information and confirmed it’s accurate, you can finalize your registration and use your newly created account.

It’s important, by the way, for you to make sure the information you provided to each sportsbook is accurate. If it’s not, they’ll need to get in touch with you to verify your information, and you may not be able to make deposits, place bets, or withdraw funds until your information is confirmed.

After you’ve completed your registration, it’s then time to make your first deposit with a New York betting site. Most sportsbooks will offer similar payment options, such as credit and debit cards, PayPal, and online banking transactions. You can choose which option you want to use, the amount you want to deposit, and enter the promo code listed on this page to get any welcome bonus you’re entitled to.

Now you’ve successfully registered for an account with a New York sports betting operator and made your first deposit, you can focus your attention on starting to place bets on these New York betting sites. That’s where the real fun begins, as legal sportsbook operators throughout New York offer a large range of betting options to choose from at all times.

How To Place Bets Online In NY

To place sports wagers online in New York, the first step you must take is to select the sport you want to bet on. Each sportsbook operator has a menu at the top of their app featuring a list of sports there are to bet on at their book, from niche sports to the most popular sports on the market. You can select which sport to bet on from that menu to get the process started.

After picking a sport to bet on, you can then select what league to wager on and what game to wager on. While sports like baseball and hockey tend to have one high-profile option like Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, popular sports like football and basketball have professional and college options, while soccer has dozens upon dozens of leagues to choose from at any given time.

Once you’ve picked out what sport and league you want to bet on, it’s then time to choose a game and pick a betting market to wager on. Depending on the number of games going on during a given day in each sport, it may be difficult to narrow down which games to wager on. But it’s smarter in the long run to choose a low volume of bets you’re confident in rather than spraying bets all over the place.

Selecting which betting market to wager on within each game is a matter of personal preference. Some bettors may prefer to simply pick which teams will win each game by betting on the moneyline, while others will go toward other traditional markets like point spreads and totals. Others will look toward more exotic betting markets like props or parlay bets, as there’s no wrong answer when picking out what bets to place.

Upon picking out which bets to place, the next step on your New York betting journey is to select the amount you wish to wager on each selection you’ve made. Each sportsbook will display the amount you stand to win in the event your bet is a winner, with that payout amount depending on the betting odds for each pick you make. If you’re satisfied with that amount, you can click to confirm your bet and finalize the wager, or you can delete the bet from your bet slip and continue looking for a better option.

Overall, this is a very straightforward process, with the hardest part being handicapping the games themselves to decide which bets are the best ones to make in a given situation. Sports betting is a lot of fun, but winning long-term requires doing some extensive research on the teams, players, and situations that go into matchups on a daily basis. That work could pay off in the long run, though, as it’s certainly possible to make handsome profits betting on sporting events.

What Sports Are Popular for Betting Online In New York?

The most popular sport for betting online in New York has to be football, just like throughout the rest of the United States. Football is the most popular sport in the country from a betting perspective and a viewership perspective, as millions of people tune in each week to see their teams play. New York has a special relationship with football, of course, given there are three professional football teams operating in and around New York.

New York’s NFL teams consist of the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, and New York Giants. While the Jets and Giants play their home games in New Jersey rather than New York, their championship parades still take place in New York City when they’re good enough to earn one after a championship season. Buffalo, meanwhile, has a passionate fanbase in the Western portion of the state.

Also popular for betting is the NBA, which has two teams playing in New York City. The Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks are both respectable clubs now, something that wasn’t always the case for either franchise. Both teams have generated a considerable buzz, and the betting action on both teams promises to be plentiful as the marketplace gets its feet wet in New York City.

Baseball and hockey are also very popular in New York, as there are multiple professional teams in those sports as well. The Yankees and Mets are New York mainstays in Major League Baseball, while the Rangers, Islanders, and New Jersey Devils are all popular in the tri-state area. These sports are a tier below football and basketball in terms of popularity but are still beloved by the die-hard New York sports fans.

There are also some niche sports that are popular to bet on in New York, though the mainstream options listed above will always be king. Sports like soccer, MMA, and golf all have dedicated niche followings both among regular sports fans and sports bettors in New York State. During major events in those sports like the World Cup, Masters, and major UFC events, there’s likely to be plenty of betting handle among bettors there.

Which Are The Best Licensed Sportsbooks In New York?

Selecting the best-licensed sportsbook in New York is a matter of personal preference, for the most part, as different bettors have different priorities that can impact which bookmakers they like the most. Your preferences as a bettor may be completely different than those of another bettor, which could lead you to a sportsbook that another player may not enjoy quite as much. Either way, there are several quality options to choose from in New York to where most bettors can’t go wrong.

FanDuel Sportsbook will always be among the industry leaders in New York State and any other state. They’ve got a massive list of betting options to choose from on a regular basis, and they tend to get their betting lines out earliest, which allows you to get ahead of the rest of the sports betting market if you know where to look. Combine that with their strong welcome bonus and regular odds boosts, and FanDuel is an option that should satisfy most everyone.

DraftKings Sportsbook is another quality sportsbook option in the New York betting scene. They also run frequent promotions to reward bettors for using several of their features, and they tend to have some of the best welcome bonuses on the market on a regular basis. If you’re someone looking for added value out of the gate, DraftKings is always a good place to look.

BetMGM is another New York betting site worth your time and consideration. They call themselves the king of sportsbooks, and while they’ve got competition for that crown, BetMGM has proven they’re no court jester in the sports betting world. With some of the better odds on the market on a consistent basis, combined with a ton of betting options, there’s no doubt BetMGM belongs among the elite bookmakers in the state.

New York Gambling Regulations And Rules

The most important rules and regulations surrounding New York sports betting are centered around who can and can’t place wagers in the state. You must be 21 years of age or older to place sports bets legally in New York. Also, some casino employees and staff aren’t allowed to place bets in New York State, with each sportsbook asking you to certify you’re not one of those employees when you register for each bookmaker’s online betting platform.

Another key regulation centers around where you’re allowed to place sports wagers throughout New York State. You must be physically located within the state of New York to place bets, even though you can make deposits and withdrawals and register for an account from anywhere. This is done to keep the bookmakers operating in this state compliant with the Wire Act, which concerns making such transactions from other states.

To verify you’re indeed within the state of New York when placing your bets, you can use one of two methods depending on the device you’re using. On a desktop computer, you can download location verification software that’ll allow the sportsbooks to confirm you’re within state lines. Or on mobile devices, you can simply allow location services during the use of each app so they can verify your location as well.

Licenses Recognized In New York

Unlike many states that offer both land-based and online sports gambling, New York didn’t require the current crop of online sportsbooks to be licensed through a land-based operator in order to be approved to offer online betting. The result of that move is online sportsbooks are licensed independently of any land-based location, while some sportsbooks were affiliated with land-based operators before online gaming was made legal.

At this point in time, there are no plans to add additional licensing capabilities in New York, though that’d change depending on the reception to sports betting in the state as a whole. Early signs point to New York smashing records for betting handle among legal U.S. states, but the sustainability of that kind of betting remains to be seen as New York City has long been thought to be the place where sports betting would thrive most.

Organizations That Operate In New York

While there are nine legal New York sportsbooks licensed to operate in the state, there are six sportsbooks actually up and running as of January 2022. Those six sportsbooks are DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, BetRivers, and PointsBet. Bally, Resorts World, and WynnBet all plan to launch in 2022 in the Empire State, but there has not yet been a clear timeline given as to when they’ll do so.

From a strategic standpoint, it may be a good idea for books without the clout of a FanDuel and DraftKings to wait for bettors to get used to wagering elsewhere before jumping into the market. This can help them control their costs, as the arms race to acquire new customers will likely die down. It’ll also allow them to see what their competitors may have done well and poorly during the early portions of the New York launch.

As far as you, the bettor, is concerned, this could also be a good thing. Staggered launch dates among bookmakers will mean more welcome bonuses are available down the road, which can help pad your bankroll without you having to do very much at all. If you’re someone who knows how to get the most out of those sportsbook welcome bonuses, having the opportunity to do so again after the initial wave of bookmakers launched presents a strong value proposition.

How To Know If A New York Sportsbook Is Safe

The best component to legalized sports betting is the confidence you’re using a trusted sportsbook, so long as you’re using a sportsbook that’s legal and regulated in the state of New York. Each sportsbook that’s deemed legal by the state has had to prove they’re reputable and secure in order for New York State to allow them to offer their services to you. Compared to unregulated betting options you had to resort to prior to legalization, this is a massive upgrade.

From a financial standpoint, these legal bookmakers are required to keep your personal and payment information secure. They use encrypted payment processing, the same way any reputable online retailer would, to make sure your information stays between you and the payment processor and nobody else. That should provide peace of mind as you put your trust in these bookmakers to deliver you a top-notch sports betting experience.

When compared to offshore bookmakers, who only need to follow the licensing recommendations of the countries they’re based in, or illegal bookies with no licensing whatsoever, there’s no comparison in terms of safety and security. As sports betting becomes more and more mainstream, that difference in the ability to bet safely will go down as the biggest improvement from the way things used to be, no matter what other features sportsbooks decide to add.

What To Do If You Encounter Any Problems

Nobody likes to have any issues while they’re betting on sports, as they’d understandably rather focus on the betting aspect of things. Fortunately, the legal New York betting sites available have the resources to attempt to resolve any problems quickly and easily so you can get back to enjoying legal New York sports betting as quickly as possible.

Most of the legal bookmakers in the state have three main ways of communicating with customer support: live chat, phone, and email. The majority of bookmakers have customer support available 24/7, meaning you can reach them at any time of the day or night. This is typically done via live chat and email, but phone support may be open overnight at some sportsbooks as well.

The customer support line at each betting site can help with things like deposit issues, concerns with claiming a bonus, and with utilizing certain promotions. There are countless other topics they can assist with, and you should make sure to lean on them for help whenever you need them. After all, that’s what customer support is there for, to support you as the customer.

Available Sports

We provide betting picks for free and from professional handicappers on Basketball, Soccer, Ice Hockey, Baseball, and Soccer, including MLS and international leagues and tournaments. Of course, we cover all major leagues in the U.S., NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. Don’t forget to compare the odds between the different sportsbooks we’re partnered with before you place your bets.