New York iGaming Bill Dies Again as Hochul Blocks S2614

⏱ 3 min read

New York's fifth consecutive attempt to legalize online casino gaming collapsed on June 23, 2026, after Gov. Kathy Hochul withheld executive support from Senate Bill S2614. The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens), confirmed he stopped pushing the legislation once it became clear Hochul would not sign it — even if it cleared both the Senate and Assembly. The failure locks out an estimated $2.5 billion in potential annual gross gaming revenue and delays any regulated New York iGaming market until 2027 at the earliest.

The stakes are no longer theoretical. Neighboring New Jersey set a record $2.91 billion in iGaming revenue in 2025, while Pennsylvania surpassed it at $2.78 billion, according to the American Gaming Association's State of the States 2026 report. Across the seven states with legal online casinos, total iGaming revenue hit a record $10.73 billion last year — a 27.6% year-over-year increase. New York, the country's largest sports-betting market with a $26.3 billion handle in 2025, earns nothing from residents playing online casino games on unregulated offshore platforms.

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What S2614 Would Have Created

Addabbo's bill proposed the most detailed iGaming framework New York has ever put forward. Under the legislation, the New York State Gaming Commission would have overseen licensing, with eligibility extended to the state's nine mobile sports betting operators, four upstate commercial casinos, three downstate casinos, racinos, and tribal operators. Key terms of the bill included:

• Games permitted: real-money online slots, blackjack, baccarat, roulette, live dealer games, scratchcards, and player-vs-player poker (Texas Hold'em, Omaha).
• Tax rate: 30.5% of gross gaming revenue — well below New York's 51% sports betting rate but above Michigan's graduated 20–28% range.
• Licensing fees: approximately $150 million per operator as a one-time fee.
• Operators limited to one branded online casino skin each.
• Live dealer studios required to be hosted within New York state lines.
• Mandatory responsible gambling tools: deposit limits, self-exclusion, biometric age verification.
• Annual workforce development and responsible gaming fund of at least $25 million statewide.

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The Governor's Wall

The bill never received a formal veto — it simply died without executive engagement. Hochul's office declined to endorse S2614 at any point during the session. A spokesman said in May that the governor "will review any legislation that passes" both chambers, a response Addabbo read as a signal she would not sign it. Rather than burn floor time on legislation destined for a pocket veto, he pulled the effort before a final vote was scheduled.

Hochul's hesitance is partly structural. She championed New York's three new downstate casino licenses — including the Resorts World New York City expansion that opened its first live table-games floor on April 28, 2026 — and observers suggest she is reluctant to complicate those billion-dollar brick-and-mortar investments with an online casino vertical before the properties open. Her administration has also prioritized underage gambling protections, proposing biometric verification requirements for sports betting in March 2026, a framework that iGaming advocates have argued should be applied to a regulated online casino market rather than used as a reason to delay one.

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The Revenue New York Is Leaving Behind

The financial opportunity cost is growing by the year. New York faces a projected $34 billion deficit over the next three years, according to state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Sports betting revenue — earmarked for education by state law — already contributes $1.32 billion annually. iGaming revenue, by contrast, would carry no predetermined allocation, making it available for healthcare, transportation, or deficit reduction. Addabbo projected $475 million per year in tax revenue under the S2614 framework. Independent analysts have estimated the total market GGR at $2.5 billion annually, which at a 30.5% tax rate would generate roughly $760 million per year for the state — more than double the senator's conservative projection.

A significant portion of that revenue is currently flowing to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. New York residents regularly cross state lines — physically or digitally while traveling — to access regulated casino apps. New Jersey alone is on pace to generate $3 billion in iGaming revenue in 2026, with its five-month total through May reaching $1.32 billion, up 14.4% year-over-year.

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How NY Would Stack Up Against Legal Markets

State	2025 iGaming Revenue	Tax Rate (Slots)	Online Casino Live Since
Pennsylvania	$2.78 billion	54%	2019
New Jersey	$2.91 billion	15%	2013
Michigan	~$2.1 billion (est.)	20–28% (graduated)	2021
New York (proposed)	$2.5 billion (analyst est.)	30.5%	Not legal — earliest 2027
Connecticut	Not separately reported	18%	2021
West Virginia	Not separately reported	15%	2020

New York's proposed 30.5% rate sits between New Jersey's operator-friendly 15% and Pennsylvania's punishing 54% on slots. Industry representatives indicated it was workable for major operators. New York's population of nearly 20 million — roughly double New Jersey's — means even conservative GGR estimates would make it the largest regulated iGaming market in the country within its first year of operation.

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What Happens Next

Addabbo has introduced iGaming legislation for five consecutive years. He has signaled he will try again in the 2027 session with an updated version of S2614, though the timeline is complicated by the governor's electoral position — Hochul is widely considered a strong favorite for re-election, meaning the same executive dynamic could repeat.

Two developments could shift the calculus by next year. First, the New York Attorney General's office in June 2026 moved to shut down 26 unlicensed sweepstakes casinos operating in the state. The crackdown, coordinated with the New York State Gaming Commission, strengthens the public-health argument for a regulated alternative. Second, the deficit pressure from federal healthcare funding cuts could make the revenue case harder to dismiss. What is clear to operators is that the largest untapped regulated iGaming market in North America remains closed — and every month it stays that way, money leaves New York for the Garden State and Pennsylvania.

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Sources

Primary regulatory data, legislative filings, and direct reporting from the session's principal figures were used to verify all figures and claims in this article.

We could pass it in the Senate, we could pass it in the Assembly, and then the governor would probably not sign it. So, I'm not going to waste anyone's time here.

— Sen. Joseph Addabbo, Chair, NY Senate Racing, Gaming & Wagering Committee · On abandoning S2614, June 2026