Just in time for Thanksgiving we have a turkey of a story. New York doesn’t have online slots yet, but their online gambling tax for sports betting is setting a horrible precedent! The state has finally approved ten operators, but the tax rate they have to pay borders on extortion! Plus, we’re still waiting on a Florida sports betting decision from the judge in the case, and covering news from the Bicycle Casino in California.
On our show from Halloween we reported that the online gambling tax being proposed for New York mobile sports betting was ridiculous. The tax would be decided by the number of operators the state eventually approved… from just 35% all the way to 50%. And now that the state has published the names of the approved operators, New York’s ridiculous tax rate will become a ridiculous reality!
Now I’m not going to come right out and say that New York state deliberately chose a minimum of operators in order to get a higher tax rate, because saying that would be wrong. However, I will imply it. Approving all the operators who applied would have resulted in a lower tax rate.
Meanwhile, Florida sports betting is still in limbo. A federal judge was supposed to release her decision about their agreement with the Seminoles by Monday, November 15th. But as of Wednesday morning, there has been nothing published! This case does have some serious ramifications for mobile bets, tribal gaming, and online slots and casino games.
