The New York online sports betting market has so far been a major success story, with countless consumers opening accounts and placing their first legal bets.

This was not lost on the hosts of the Legal Sports Report (LSR) – Adam Candee, Matt Brown and Dustin Gouker – who observed that the convenience of the new market has driven many new customers to embrace the vertical. 

Coupled with extensive advertising, New Yorkers no longer have to use offshore or out-of-state operators, or rely on traditional unregulated black market bookmakers, leading to a surge in revenue. 

There are currently five operators in the Empire State, with Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, FanDuel and Rush Street Interactive (RSI) entering two weeks ago, whilst BetMGM – the joint venture between Entain and MGM – launched today.

Sharing his views on the developments, Gouker argued that the roll out of online sports betting in New York has enabled Caesars to ‘close the gap’ with its rivals in DraftKings and FanDuel.

“The other thing I’m seeing in the chatter and numbers is that Ceasars are really in the conversation with the others,” he explained. 

“DraftKings and FanDuel have a huge advantage in New York, because they have made huge pushes with DFS, they have the databases already and they don’t have to spend quite as much to get new customers.

“But Caesars have moved the needle – they’re in there with Rivers, DraftKings and FanDuel, and I’d say they’re closing the gap really quickly, with ubiquitous ads on national television all the time.”

“They are paying heavily for the customer acquisition and getting their name out there but they are doing it. We’ve just seen them sign a deal with Michigan State to become their official sports betting and online casino provider, so there’s a lot going on in New York and this is a big deal.”

Four more firms – Bally’s, Wynn, Resorts World and PointsBet – are now preparing to initiate sports wagering operations in New York, subject to the approval of the New York State Gambling Commission (NYGSC).

Speaking to CNBC last week, Caesars Entertainment CEO Thomas Rigg stated that the launch of the New York wagering market ‘didn’t disappoint’, describing the firm’s numbers as ‘massive’.

He continued: “We had almost a million individual bets taken in 39 hours over the first two days. To put that in context, the last state we launched was Arizona, which was a four day launch and volumes in New York were about nine times what Arizona was in a shorter period.”