Mobile sports bets drive big gains in NYS revenue

ALBANY — Mobile sports betting shows no signs of slowing down in New York.

While not as popular as the state lottery, mobile sports betting is now the second strongest gaming revenue stream the state has, according to a report Wednesday from the state Comptroller’s Office.

In the 2026 fiscal year, which ran from April 2025 through March, it collected more than $5.1 billion in gaming revenue, a jump of $1.3 billion from a decade ago. Those figures include lottery tickets and video lottery terminals at horse racing tracks, as well as casinos.

But the growth has been driven almost entirely by the growth in collections from mobile sports wagering since its legalization in 2022, growing from $727.4 million in fiscal year 2023 to $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2026, according to the report.

New Yorkers have wagered $91.2 billion on mobile sports bets since it became legal, resulting in $8.3 billion in gross gaming revenue, the difference between what gaming platforms take in from bets and pay out on winning ones.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, who chairs the Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, said he wants to build on the growth of mobile sports betting and legalize mobile casino gaming.

“I believe personally that it actually helps the brick and mortar (casinos) because it's cross promotion,” he said. “They could use the online gaming app to get people in there to see a show, have a dinner, free spin, whatever it is.”

In contrast, revenues from all other forms of gaming have collectively slipped, declining by 0.8%.

Even the state’s lottery system is seeing a decline that roughly coincides with the legalization of mobile sports betting. State lottery revenues peaked in the 2023 state fiscal year but are down 10% since.

Most of the revenue from gaming is set aside to fund education purposes.

The state has more than 7.2 million unique sports betting accounts, according to the state comptroller’s report. In 2025, those bettors placed more than 2.2 million wagers on games, totaling $25 billion.

The vast majority of those bettors are young, between the ages of 21 and 44, with 40% being 21 to 35 years old, the comptroller’s office said.

The most popular sport to bet on is basketball, with more than $9 billion wagered in 2025. Football was the second most popular sport, with over $5 billion in bets placed, followed by baseball, tennis and soccer.

Joe Maloney, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, said the report showed the success of a regulated sports betting market.

“We hope the state will continue to expand and modernize online wagering, as well as consider other avenues to increase revenue without raising taxes on New Yorkers, such as by legalizing and regulating igaming, which based on the success of other, neighboring states, would be expected to generate an additional $2-3 billion in revenue, annually,” he said in a statement.

Mobile sports betting comes with its problems as well.

There were 2,545 calls to the state’s hotline for people who think they have a gambling problem, an increase of 8.5% since 2020, according to a recent report from the state Gaming Commission and the Office of Addiction Services and Supports.

Since 2022, mobile sports betting has been the top reason for calls, the report says.

Michelle Hadden, executive director of the New York Council on Problem Gambling, said she wasn’t surprised to see the increase given the proliferation of sports betting and prediction market gambling.

Hadden said those types of online wagering are are easily accessible and built to engage customers in continued gambling.

“For some participants that will mean chasing losses, spending too much time or money on the site or the inability to stop altogether, any of which are clear signs that a problem with gambling exists,” she said in a statement.

In March, the state Assembly passed a package of legislation meant to help address problem gambling.

The legislation included bills that would place restrictions on mobile sports betting like those on licensed casinos and require mobile sports betting sites to send users an electronic monthly activity statement.