BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his State of the State that he would be looking to legalize sports gambling in "upstate casinos". This means that the four commercial casinos, plus Native American sites will be allowed to accept sports bets when/if legislation is passed.
This legislation could pass in the next few weeks, making betting at the above locations legal. That legislation will not include places like OTB, Hamburg Fairgrounds, and Batavia Downs. These locations would have to then be affiliated with the licensed betting locations before they could also accept bets.
The legalization is a good sign for Batavia Downs CEO Henry Wojtaszek, however he is still hopeful more legislation will pass so Batavia Downs can operate similarly to the other locations.
"It leaves wide slots of individuals unable to get to a casino close by to place a sports wager" Wojtaszek said, "As of today, our portion of sports betting was not included."
