New York Senator Joseph Addabbo Pushes iGaming Bill Again for 2026

^{It's round four for iGaming in New York: Senator Joseph Addabbo has again legislation aimed at bringing online casinos to the state. (Photo: @SenJosephAddabbo on X)}

New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo is once again filing legislation in an attempt to bring online casinos to the Empire State.

Addabbo (D-Queens) filed Senate Bill 2614 on Tuesday, Jan. 7 for the 2026 legislative session. A companion bill has also been introduced in the New York Assembly by Assemblyperson Carrie Woerner (D-Round Lake).

With three New York State casino licenses awarded last year, Addabbo has framed iGaming as an issue that should be resolved quickly to allow brick-and-mortar operators to plan for a market that may soon include online competition.

Addabbo: iGaming Bill ‘Purely a Fiscal Item’

The new legislation is almost identical to the bill Sen. Addabbo introduced in 2025, marking his fourth attempt to bring iGaming to New York. Under the bill, all online casino operators would be taxed at a 30.5% rate on gross gaming revenue. Casino, racino, and other operators who want to offer iGaming in the state bill would also be charged a $2 million licensing fee, while third-party platform providers must pay a much higher $10 million licensing fee. 

Senator Addabbo serves as the chair of the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee and has been a central figure in nearly all New York gaming expansion proposals over recent years. He helped bring online sports betting to the state, which launched in 2022 and now generates well over $1 billion per year.

According to Addabbo, online casino gaming has the potential to offer similar benefits to the state budget.

“This is purely a fiscal item,” Addabbo told Gambling Insider. “Sure, we could this post-budget and before we end in June. But the reason why I push for it to be in the budget, it is a fiscal document.” 

Governor, Industry Resistance Stalls iGaming Expansion in New York 

Addabbo and other lawmakers have long pushed iGaming regulation as a way to push players away from offshore and unregulated sites that don’t offer consumer protections, including sweepstakes casinos. He has continued to emphasize the safety of regulated casino play alongside the revenue potential when pitching his bill – particularly in his efforts to win over New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

Despite his efforts, Governor Hochul has shown little appetite for online casino legalization. 

“In the end, if the governor doesn’t want the revenue, if the governor doesn’t want to help people with addiction, if the governor wants to still see our money go to another state, then we don’t do it,” Addabbo said. “I don’t know what rational governor would want to do that.”

It’s not just the governor who seems cool towards gambling expansion in New York, however. Some brick-and-mortar casino operators fear that online casinos would cannibalize their own revenue, with Las Vegas Sands citing the potential introduction of iGaming as its reason for dropping out of the downstate licensing race last year.

In December 2025, a bill was introduced that would end all in-play sports betting at casinos and online sportsbooks, signaling more concerns over problem gambling in the state.

Addabbo is hoping to alleviate some of these concerns by dedicating 0.025% of all iGaming tax revenue towards a fund that would be for employee training and responsible gaming education, with a guaranteed $25 million going into that fund each year. 

But whether or not those provisions will sway Gov. Hochul to support the bill remains to be seen. 

“I have an administration that obviously, if they wanted to do iGaming, they would have done it previously,” Addabbo said. "I’ll be out there and I’ll suggest it, but every state that has iGaming [has it] because the governor of that state wanted it.”