New York is launching mobile sports betting this Saturday

Well, it’s official — mobile and online sports betting received the green light to operate in New York starting this Saturday at 9 a.m. ET. Four licensed mobile sports wagering operators were approved to begin accepting bets, right on time for this Sunday’s slate of NFL games:

• Caesars Sportsbook
• DraftKings
• FanDuel
• Rush Street Interactive

The state of New York is in line to receive a windfall of license fees and tax revenue from both the companies that host betting platforms and, of course, the bettors themselves. According to the NYPost, the state has already received $200 million in license fees from the sports wagering operators listed above. Throw in the fact that those companies have agreed on a 51 percent tax on gross revenues and it makes you wonder how this decision wasn’t made sooner.

Mainstream Acceptance — Let’s be honest, online sports betting comprises the vast majority of all sports betting (apologies to those who have a bookie out there who collects cash). It’s been slowly subsumed into mainstream sports media. What started as high-budget advertisements littered during network timeouts throughout say, a big college football weekend or the NBA playoffs, became integrated into the broadcasts themselves. Take a look at any major sports broadcast and there’s bound to be a FanDuel segment:

Betting on sports after all is a form of gambling, though, which can be highly addictive and have terrible consequences. There are also concerns that it is easy for children to get in on the action by asking an older friend or sibling to place bets on their behalf. When the activity is integrated as simply an extension of sports media, it becomes more palatable to both market and everyday consumers — for better or worse.

Prior to this ruling by the gaming commission, gamblers had to place wagers upstate or go to New Jersey to place mobile bets across the Hudson River. Other methods involve using offshore gambling websites, which carry a degree of risk.

Be prepared for the wave of TV ad spots from Ceasars Sportsbook and all of the other approved entities over the coming weekends.