Many states are still weighing the pros and cons of legalizing online gambling, the state of New York is one of them. With nearby New Jersey having already legalized online gambling, many New Yorkers wish they had the same privileges as their Garden State neighbors.
It is estimated that residents of the state of New York already spend around $110 million per year in illegal online poker. If illegal gaming is transferred to legal gaming, it could generate an additional $50 million or more each year in gambling tax revenue (and this number does not include tax revenue generated by new online gamblers).
Not surprisingly, the big boys of the gambling world are now in an Empire State of mind.
“MGM, which reported nearly $10 billion in sales and revenue last year, has no casino in New York and is not among the companies vying for one of the four casino licenses the state is preparing to grant,” the New York Times reports. “But MGM has made no secret of its ambition to be a big player in the expanding realm of online gambling.”
Recently Twitter and Facebook have been buzzing with talk about the benefits of legalizing online gambling in New York. even though the ball is already rolling to legalized online poker in the state. Legalization will take time, however, because there is much that goes into the process. But New York is now widely expected to green light online gambling in 2015.
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