When New York lawmakers legalized mobile sports wagering, they launched something of a social science experiment. Nobody could really know the long-term ramifications of the decision.
But four years after legalization went into effect, returns are worrying.
New Yorkers are betting often, and the cumulative total is staggering: More than $25 billion was wagered on mobile sports betting just in 2025, according to a new report from state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. While the economic impacts of all that gambling aren’t entirely clear, the social and cultural consequences are coming into focus.
As the Times Union‘s Alexander MacDougall recently detailed, betting is rampant among college students.
