It’s day one of the 2022 NFL Draft (Thursday, April 28th on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network) and if you’re like me you woke up this morning and logged onto Sportsbook to place some bets on the celebrations to place.
However, if you’re like me and live in upstate New York, you were disappointed to see a message like this on DraftKings: “Draft betting not allowed.”
What gives?
Unfortunately, if you are within New York state lines, you cannot bet on the 2022 draft, although sports betting has been legal for a few months. Why not, you might ask?
“The NFL draft does not fit the statutory definition of sports betting,” a Gaming Commission spokesman told WIVB News 4 in Buffalo.
The commission then referred to a regulation in the state betting, pari-mutuel betting and breeding law:
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“Sports Betting” means wagering on any sporting event or part thereof, or on the individual performance statistics of athletes participating in a sporting event or combination of sporting events, by any system or wagering method…provided, however, that sports betting includes: but is not limited to on single game bets, teaser bets, parlays, over-under bets, money line, pools, in-game bets, in-play bets, proposition bets and straight bets.
Quite simply, New York State does not consider the draft to be an actual sporting event involving athletes and therefore does not qualify as legal wagering. A parallel could be the Oscars, an event that can be bet on in some states – but again not in New York.
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Draft betting is legal in several other states, including Colorado, Illinois and neighboring New Jersey. So if those in New York City are itching to take part in the betting, they can hop on the PATH train to Hoboken and wager to their heart’s content.
Queens Democrat Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. told News 4 that while draft betting isn’t allowed this year, there’s a chance it could be in the near future.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/28/why-you-cant-bet-on-2022-nfl-draft-in-new-york-state/ Why you can’t bet on the 2022 NFL Draft in New York State