{"id":5239,"date":"2018-04-27T05:31:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T05:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=5239"},"modified":"2018-04-27T17:04:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T17:04:23","slug":"batavia-downs-saddling-up-for-ny-sports-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/batavia-downs-saddling-up-for-ny-sports-betting\/","title":{"rendered":"Batavia Downs Saddling Up For NY Sports Betting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>New York\u00a0horse racing industry<\/strong> is preparing for the possibility of <strong>legal sports betting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This week, an executive from <strong>Western Regional Off-Track Betting<\/strong>\u00a0expressed an immediate appetite for expanded wagering through its\u00a0<strong>Batavia Downs<\/strong> headquarters. COO <strong>Mike Nolan<\/strong>\u00a0told <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailynewsonline.com\/bdn01\/batavia-downs-otb-await-sports-betting-decision-20180423\">The Daily News<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>that WROTB will move into NY sports betting without delay if legislation clears a path.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we can do it legally,\u201d Nolan said, \u201cwe\u2019ll do everything we can to be up and running as soon as possible.\u201d\u00a0The group also operates dozens of <strong>OTBs<\/strong> in the state, all west of <strong>I-81<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan\u2019s sentiments echo those of operators in neighboring <strong>New Jersey<\/strong>, where legalization is also pending. <strong>Monmouth Park<\/strong>, for example, hopes to be taking sports bets within weeks of a <strong>US\u00a0Supreme Court\u00a0<\/strong>ruling.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"batavia_downs_bullish_on_sports_betting\">Batavia Downs bullish on sports betting<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>New York and New Jersey are both among a small group of states with new sports betting laws.\u00a0Like everyone not named <strong>Nevada,<\/strong> though, they\u2019re prohibited from <strong>activating<\/strong> that law under a <strong>superseding federal prohibition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act<\/strong> (PASPA)\u00a0blocks state-based regulation of sports betting unless it was already in place before\u00a0<strong>1992<\/strong>.\u00a0Nevada was grandfathered in, but any laws passed thereafter are <strong>effectively void<\/strong>\u00a0unless something changes at the federal level.<\/p>\n<p>NJ is trying to do the changing. It took the matter all the way to the highest court in the nation, presenting <strong>oral arguments<\/strong> last December. <strong>Murphy vs. NCAA<\/strong> will be decided within a matter of weeks, and the gaming industry is giddy with anticipation.<\/p>\n<p>Many expect to see PASPA repealed, including Nolan.\u00a0Horsemen speak the <strong>language of handicapping<\/strong>, so he was ready with a number.\u00a0\u201cIf you wanted me to give you some odds, I would say 60\/40 that the Supreme Court will overturn it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Batavia Downs already has an <strong>early game plan<\/strong>\u00a0on the whiteboard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have all kinds of areas that we could retrofit and get going quickly,\u201d Nolan said. \u201cWe would be tied in with some really big sports outfit that had been doing sports betting for years. It\u2019s our hope that if everything goes well and in our favor, we\u2019re hoping to have sports betting by the NFL season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The goal, of course, would be to target the region\u2019s <strong>existing sports fanbase<\/strong>. \u201cCertainly, with two professional sports teams in western New York, the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, it will be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"if_we_can_do_it_legally\">\u2018If we can do it legally\u2026\u2019<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Herein lies the current issue for Batavia Downs.<\/p>\n<p>Tracks and OTBs in neighboring states are <strong>eager<\/strong> for sports betting with good reason. They\u2019ll be <strong>involved from the start<\/strong>. Laws in NJ and <strong>Pennsylvania<\/strong> allow those venues to<strong> seek licenses<\/strong> if the federal hurdles are removed.<\/p>\n<p>Pari-mutuel facilities in the <strong>Empire State<\/strong> aren\u2019t so fortunate at the moment though. As written, the state\u2019s own sports betting law limits licensure to the four commercial\u00a0NY casinos. Even if PASPA were repealed tomorrow, the racing industry would still need new legislation to offer sports betting.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers are in the process of revisiting the issue. Several news bills have already appeared this session, each of them including tracks and OTBs in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Time is of the essence, though. Tracks in neighboring states have already positioned themselves for sports betting, and the Supreme Court\u2019s <strong>hourglass is nearly empty<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Daily News also reports that WROTB has been working with lawmakers in <strong>Albany<\/strong> to get legislation moving. A recent proposal from <strong>Sen. John Bonacic<\/strong>\u00a0(S 7900) evidently reflects<strong> compromises<\/strong> that arose from those discussions.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"creating_a_quality_wagering_product\">Creating a quality wagering product<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Horse betting<\/strong> is old hat for Batavia Downs; it has hosted <strong>pari-mutuel racing<\/strong> since 1973. It also has its limit of 600 <strong>video lottery terminals<\/strong>, operating as a licensed <strong>racino<\/strong> since 2005. This new vertical, though, would require a bit of catching up.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan said the WROTB is already getting familiar with the mechanics in a proactive way. \u201cWe\u2019ve been educating ourselves on sportsbooks and sports betting so we can bring the best sports betting product to New York State,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>It sounds like they\u2019re past the preliminary stages. According to Nolan, the group is now seeking out an <strong>operating partnership<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cThis past Friday, we just had a video conference with a sportsbook company,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was our second talk with them and we\u2019ve had talks with others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Batavia Downs does seem to be a<strong> good candidate<\/strong> for sports betting. Customers already enjoy sports-centric promotions and seasonal events, and the property even embraces NY daily fantasy sports.\u00a0Two years ago, it entered into a long-term agreement with <strong>FanDuel<\/strong> to offer DFS contests.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s so 2016 though. The mere prospect of widespread sports betting has begun to shift the current beneath the gaming industry this year. That includes some DFS operators, like <strong>DraftKings<\/strong>, along with casinos, tracks, OTBs, <strong>video poker parlors<\/strong> and <strong>lottery retailers<\/strong> in every relevant state.<\/p>\n<p>Batavia Downs is trying to bring sports betting into western New York, too \u2014 and to do so quickly.<\/p>\n<p>The post Batavia Downs Saddling Up For NY Sports Betting appeared first on Play NY.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York\u00a0horse racing industry is preparing for the possibility of legal sports betting. This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","vebbtech_seo_disable_yoast":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_author":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_date":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_factchecker":false,"vebbtech_seo_fact_check_enabled":false,"vebbtech_seo_post_reviewer":0,"vebbtech_seo_post_review_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[374,6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-link","6":"category-industry","7":"category-news-category","8":"post_format-post-format-link"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Batavia Downs Saddling Up For NY Sports Betting -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/batavia-downs-saddling-up-for-ny-sports-betting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Batavia Downs Saddling Up For NY Sports Betting -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The New York\u00a0horse racing industry is preparing for the possibility of legal sports betting. 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