The lawmaker behind New York’s persistent attempts at legalizing iGaming is eager to meet online casino opponents at the negotiating table.
He’s ready to make provisions and concessions that make sense for all parties.
But, in an interview with Comped, New York Sen. Joseph Addabbo said an earnest desire to negotiate items in his iGaming bill, S2614, means nothing if he can’t get the doubters to the negotiating table. To do so will require initiative from Gov. Kathy Hochul, Addabbo said.
And he worries that won’t happen.
“If the governor of this state doesn’t show leadership in saying, ‘Hey, we may not want to do iGaming, but we need to do it for the sake of revenue or helping someone with an addiction’ — she should take the initiative,” Addabbo told Comped. “It can’t be just me. I can’t be the only one who’s chair of the committee going, ‘We need to do this and back this struggle constantly.’ I can’t be the only one. It has to be the governor.”
No governor would ‘want a billion dollars just to leave their state’
Addabbo stressed the necessity of Hochul’s involvement in New York’s iGaming discussion.
“Every state that has any kind of iGaming or mobile sports betting, the governor of that state needed to do that,” Addabbo said. “Again, may not want to do it but needed it, because every surrounding state had it and they were losing money, so they need to do it, fiscally.
“I don’t know what governor for any state would want a billion dollars just to leave their state or not be able to protect their residents from addiction. So I hope this governor, our governor, will take some initiative. And I know the union, the Trades Council, is against my iGaming bill because they think it’s going to cannibalize brick-and-mortar and the attendance at brick-and-mortar casinos. And I don’t agree, but I’m willing to do something in the statute and in the draft language of the bill to address that issue.”
‘The governor has to show leadership’
Addabbo said his willingness to negotiate and get creative with provisions in the bill are moot if he can’t get the unions to the table, a move he says falls on the governor.
“So if I talk to the governor’s people and I say, ‘Hey, let’s talk about iGaming,’ and they say ‘Nope, the unions don’t want to do it.’ And I say, ‘Well, that’s the tail wagging the dog,'” Addabbo told Comped. “To me, the governor has to show leadership. They have to get people to the table and go, ‘Okay, listen. How do we get from point A to point B? Let’s figure it out.’ Because we have a deficit coming up. We have rising healthcare costs. We have rising transportation costs.”
S2614 hasn’t seen any action since it was referred on Jan. 21 to Addabbo’s committee, the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee.
