New York casinos avoid paying millions in fees

Four New York casinos avoided paying US$13 million in fees over mistakes by the Gaming Commission in the billing process.

US.- All casinos in New York must pay the state to place a regulator to monitor gaming activities. However, some casinos in the state seem to have avoided their responsibilities.

Four casinos which opened since 2017 have not been charged with the bills that they were supposed to pay. The state has collected US$145 million from all venues but the del Lago, Rivers, Tioga Downs and Resorts World Catskills casinos.

“Casinos themselves should shoulder the costs to regulate casinos in New York,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “The Gaming Commission has let some of them slide on this responsibility (…) That has unfairly shifted expenses to taxpayers.”

However, the Gaming Commission explained New York will charge the casinos in the near future. 

“The commission appropriately waited for the conclusion of the regulatory process which established rules and methodologies for regulatory fee assessment before issuing its invoices,” said Gaming Commission spokesman Brad Maione.

Nonetheless, Maione did not say when they will send the bills to the operators.

Recent sports betting results in New York

Revenue from sports betting operations in New York posted a year-low last month, totalling just over US$780k. This figure represents the lowest since New York legalised and launched its sports betting market in July 2019.

The US$780k that sportsbooks generated in New York represent a significant setback from November’s performance, which was previously the worst that the state had recorded in its first four months.

The leading operator in December was DraftKings, in charge of the sportsbook at del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo. The facility registered US$335k in total revenue – a 45.6% from the US$230k that it had achieved the previous month.