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State must get in games

In July, New Jersey netted $325,646 in state taxes from sports betting.

Such are the spoils for the Garden State, which won a U.S. Supreme Court case in May clearing the way for all 50 states to offer sports betting if they choose. Since betting began in New Jersey on June 14, more than $57 million in bets have been taken in and additional companies continue to join a rapidly expanding market within the state.

New York, meanwhile, is losing out while state legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo dilly dally. State voters gave their blessing to allow casinos to operate sports books as part of the constitutional amendment voters approved nearly five years ago allowing casino operations to expand beyond sovereign Native American land.

Valid concerns over gambling addiction and the toll gambling addiction takes on families weren’t enough for Cuomo, the state Legislature and voters statewide not to bet on casinos five years ago. Those concerns should not torpedo sports betting in New York state now.

It’s not as if state residents haven’t been making sports bets already anyway. Those who can simply go to New Jersey or another nearby locale to make bets. The state might as well legalize sports betting and get sports betting out in the open.

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