More than $2 billion a month is spent on sports betting in New York state – including a record $2.64 billion in October 2025.

Needless to say there was pent-up demand when state legislators approved online sports betting back in 2022. And, let’s be honest, the state was looking for a new revenue stream to pay for new programs. It was a match made in heaven.

But the longer we go down the road with mobile sports betting the more some legislators are having second thoughts. It’s obvious that, in their zeal for new money to spend and the cacophony of people pushing for mobile sports betting to be legalized, not all of the potential issues that came with mobile sports betting were considered. That’s obvious from the legislation that is coming from Albany in drips and drops over the course of each year since mobile sports betting was legalized.

In October Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation (S.1550/A.1118) requiring all advertisements for gambling and sports betting to include warnings about the potential harmful and addictive effects of gambling. The previous law states that each advertisement must clearly and conspicuously post a problem gambling hotline number. Six pieces of legislation have been introduced this year alone, including the most recent from Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, D-New York City, whose A.9343 would no longer allow casinos and mobile sports betting platforms to accept live betting or in-game betting.

Legislators also have proposed legislation that would require those seeking gambling counseling to do so through state-approved sources rather than treatment providers suggested by sports betting providers; a bill proposing banning advertising by or on behalf of mobile sports wagering license holders during the broadcast of any live sporting event; legislation banning advertising during live sports events by banning advertising between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. and during live sports events; prohibiting sports betting operators and platforms from sending push notifications or text messages and to require sports betting operators to establish default betting limits on their platforms and to notify sports bettors of their ability to opt-out of default betting limits.

These are all valid concerns. They also should have been considered four years ago when the state was in the midst of its debate over legalizing mobile sports betting. Because we didn’t get it right then, the debate over mobile sports betting will be going on in New York for years to come.