State Senator Joseph Addabbo (left) said this week he believes he has convinced Governor Andrew Cuomo (right) on mobile sports betting but the governor wanted enthusiasm from the Assembly, which was not forthcoming. (Image: Queens Politics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBut notably absent were revenues derived from the regulation of recreational marijuana \u2013 of which Cuomo is an enthusiastic supporter \u2013 and mobile sports betting \u2013 which State Senator Joseph Addabbo (D-15th) has spent the last few weeks encouraging the governor to take to his heart.<\/p>\n
Cuomo has previously said he believes mobile sports betting would be unconstitutional, but in an interview with LegalSportsReport<\/em> on Tuesday, Addabbo said he felt the governor had come around to his way of thinking.<\/p>\nThey stopped talking about constitutionality and started talking about how they needed the Assembly on board,\u201d Addabbo said. \u201cThe second conversation with the governor\u2019s office was quite accepting of mobile sports wagering, but they said they didn\u2019t see any enthusiasm from the Assembly.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Assembly has traditionally been the undoing of gambling expansion legislation in New York State and this proved to be no exception. While the Senate included language to authorize mobile betting in its budget proposal, the Assembly did not. And according to Addabbo, the governor wanted enthusiasm from both chambers.<\/p>\n
Addabbo believes the omission from the means the state has left recurring revenues of $100 million \u201con the table\u201d \u2013 a not insignificant chunk of its $2.3 billion budget deficit.<\/p>\n