New York iGaming Push Stalls as Key Lawmaker Calls It ‘Perpetually Five Years Out’
A top New York assemblymember says online casino legalization remains distant, underscoring how slowly U.S. iGaming expansion compares with Ontario’s open market.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited by the ON360 newsroom.
New York remains unlikely to legalize online casino gambling anytime soon, according to Assemblymember Carrie Woerner, who chairs the state Assembly’s committee on racing and gaming. Speaking at The Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga on August 13, Woerner said she views iGaming legalization in the state as “perpetually five years out,” a comment reported by Gambling Insider.
The remark lands as a signal to operators and investors who had bet on New York — one of the largest untapped gambling markets in the United States — eventually following states such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan into regulated online casino play. Woerner’s committee would need to advance any such legislation before it could reach a floor vote.
Economic Pressures Cited as a Brake on Expansion
Woerner pointed to stagnant household finances as a reason lawmakers are cool on new gambling products. “We’re seeing a stagnation of disposable income in the economy generally,” she said, adding that money spent on gambling is money not spent on restaurants, movies or local shopping.
Gambling Insider’s report notes that a poll of more than 200 attendees at the Saratoga conference produced a consensus estimate of just 10 to 20 U.S. states offering iGaming within five years — implying as few as two or three additional states beyond the seven that currently permit it (eight if Nevada’s online poker market is included). Most existing iGaming states are clustered in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
A Contrast With Sports Betting’s Rapid Rise
According to Gambling Insider, iGaming has never enjoyed the grassroots momentum that drove sports betting’s expansion after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling striking down the federal ban. That wave was fuelled by cross-border envy among bettors and blanket advertising on television, radio and in stadiums — exposure that has since become a political liability as regulators grapple with concerns about advertising reach and underage access.
Despite iGaming generating substantially higher revenue per user than mobile sports betting in states where both are legal, that data point has not translated into political urgency. Virginia, Maryland, Indiana and Washington, D.C. are cited in the report as the most plausible near-term candidates for legalization, potentially arriving as late as 2027 or beyond.
Why It Matters North of the Border
The slow pace of U.S. state-by-state legalization stands in contrast to Ontario, where a regulated online casino and sports betting market has operated under iGaming Ontario and the AGCO since 2022. Ontario operators must offer responsible-gambling tools such as deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion, and the province continues to attract new entrants even as several U.S. states remain stuck in legislative limbo.
For Canadian operators and investors watching cross-border trends, New York’s continued holdout — alongside the broader U.S. slowdown — suggests Ontario’s head start in a regulated framework may remain a competitive advantage for some time. Players in Ontario seeking support with gambling-related concerns can access resources through provincially mandated responsible-gambling programs offered by licensed operators.
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