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With New York State planning to legalize real money online casino gambling, one of the industry's leading advocates believes it's time to get so-called sweepstakes casinos out of the way first.
Senator Joseph Addabbo, the Chair of the New York State Senate Racing, claims the model is legal for now but operators do not have to pay for a gaming licensing fee nor does the state collect any taxes.
A ban is needed, he insists, and that requires legislation.
“One of my primary objectives as Gaming chair is ensuring New Yorkers are protected from gambling operations that have the potential of becoming more problematic without proper legislative action, such as unregulated sweepstakes casino operators,” stated Addabbo. “Many sweepstakes' operators are located offshore making enforcement limited or impossible, and our most vulnerable populations, youth and elderly, are most often targeted, which is why I want to act to address this existing loophole,” Addabbo added. The Senator expressed that the sweepstakes operators are allowing individuals to pay for virtual coins and win more coins that can be redeemed for cash prizes. “The use of money to play a game and win more money is simple gambling and should be safely regulated,” Addabbo said.
Should a measure pass into law, popular social casino sites like Chumba, Spree and McLuck could soon find themselves making an abrupt exit. Current New York customers will be left with the option of playing at sites either regulated by the state or in offshore jurisdictions. A few of the latter have long been accessible to New York State residents.
“Whenever you go into the arena of gaming, you want to make sure it’s regulated so it’s a safe product for New Yorkers,” Addabbo told Legal Sports Report last week. “It’s really about ensuring it’s a safe product. Sweepstakes, they’ve gotten around a loophole, but if you use money to buy the coins and it equates to greater cash prizes, that’s gambling.
“If we want to be serious about addiction, you need to regulate so we can monitor activity; you want to catch it before the addiction hits. If it’s in the shadows, we can’t really help them.”
And unlike real money online casinos that require a deposit via one's credit card or cryptocurrency from the onset, social media casinos lure youth in with their promise of free play.
Addabbo said sweepstakes games like Candy Crush appeal to minors. The state senator said he wants to be proactive and not reactive when it comes to a potential increase in gambling addiction among minors.
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