Meanwhile, Back in Albany (v47)

Here we go again, New York. 

We're losing gambling money to neighboring states, dammit, and we're not going to take it anymore!

First, there was the casino money we were hemorrhaging to neighboring states.

Then, it was sports betting at our casinos, something we needed, you know, to fund things like education and gambling addiction treatment, and to stop bleeding money to neighboring states. And to help our underperforming casinos, which were not generating nearly the revenue we expected. 

Then it was mobile sports betting, because, you know, funding education, even more gambling addiction treatment, and buying tourniquets to stop the blood loss from all that hemorrhaging we've been doing are important governmental functions, as is helping casinos addict more gamblers.

And now, it's online casino gaming; here's some info from a Spectrum News report from October 2023.

Lawmakers are working to amend legislation to legalize a new form of online gambling in the state officials say could bring upwards of $1 billion in revenue to New York and help close budget gaps expected over the next few years.

Why? Well, we're addicted to the money gambling brings in, of course, and the success of mobile sports betting can't be ignored. It's

spurring discussion to permit online casino gaming — also known as iGaming — in the state, allowing games like blackjack, roulette and others to be played from a mobile device.

And, of course, because of those darn neighboring states that already allow it. After all, as Sen. Joseph Addabbo, chair of the Senate's Addiction Funding Committee (sorry - the Racing, Gaming, & Wagering Committee), says

Other states surrounding us are doing it. We can do this. I think it's the conversation we have to have dictated by the poor fiscal situation we're going to be in next year.

In addition to the revenue, it's flat-out altruistic, too, especially for the New Yorkers who are forced to do their online gambling on apps registered in other states.

We can't help someone with an addiction because we don't know who they are, and once we regulate it in New York, iGaming, we then can help those that might be in need are on their pathway to addiction. We'll put in statutory language in this bill to address that.

Fast forward to January 2024, and the legislation is being worked on in earnest. According to Addabbo 

It's a good bill. We got a lot of input from a lot of individuals, but it's a starting point. It's a starting point where I'm hoping that we can have these kinds of discussions during the budget process.

The bill would allow for mobile or online betting on various types of interactive gaming, referred to as iGaming, and iLottery. I'm pretty sure those names are not affiliated with the giant fruit vendor known for selling all the other iThings, or with iCarly, an old Nickelodeon TV show, but there's a chance we could see some kind of copyright lawsuit, right? What are the odds? 

As proposed, the licensing fees for the iStuff would be a cool $2M, and revenues would be taxed at 30.5%, which could generate a billion dollars annually. And, of course, we're hemorrhaging that money to PA and NJ now. Once we get that back, we'll be in good shape, Addabbo thinks.

We need to look at the outyears, 2025, 2026, where according to the state comptroller the fiscal situation only gets worse, then we do need to figure out a sustainable plan both short-term and long-term and that is iGaming and iLottery.

And what about those problem gamblers? There's $11M in annual funding for "addiction services and supports." I'm not sure if that money is dedicated solely to gambling addicts, or if it covers all other causes of addiction as well. But we do need to act with urgency, it seems.

If we're serious about helping people with a gaming problem, knowing that they're doing iGaming anyway in New York, they're just doing it illegally, then you try to do it this year because that will actually help the New Yorker who is already participating in iGaming.

But wait - there's more! Progressive more!

To ensure "existing union casino employees" aren't threatened by the new option, there's a "a fund of at least $25M annually" towards training and supporting employees of private business enterprises - because that's the New York Way. Addabbo also said we may see more union jobs created because people will be able to sit in their jammies and play poker on their phones - with live dealers. I'm sure they'll be even more addicting than CGI dealers.

Anyone who's already allowed to feed our gambling addiction won't be ignored, either. Existing license holders, including "current video lottery terminal licensees, mobile sports betting operators, state-licensed and Native American casinos" can participate in the iJunk if they like.

I'll be following this one as we go through the legislative session.

Meanwhile Back in Albany (v14)

Nathaniel Brooks/NY Times

New York's Sonofa Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his eighth State of the State (SOTS) address last Wednesday.

He chose a much more traditional route this year - no dog and pony shows across the state, just a "Castro-esque" speech about all of the things he wants to do as president in 2020 governor in 2018. The Castro comment, which I love, came from Colgate University professor Tim Byrnes; it comes near the 20-minute mark in this video.

So what's on the gov's wish list this year? He starts with sexual harassment, and a laundry list of proposals:

• no taxpayer funds should be used to pay for any public official's sexual harassment or misconduct;
• no state or local government enter into a secret nondisclosure agreement; 
• companies doing business with the state disclose the number of sexual harassment; adjudications they have, and the number of nondisclosure agreements they've executed;
• state pension funds only be invested in companies the Comptroller determines have adequate female and minority representation in management or on the board of directors.

And, he asked for enactment of the contraceptive care act and state legislature approval of Roe v. Wade. And a new independent, government-wide whistleblower process. And a strict, uniform code of sexual harassment policies that would be binding on all employees, all branches and agencies, all authorities, and all local governments.

Then came criminal justice reform, starting with the bail process. We need to be color-blind and wealth-blind, he said, and so unless the person poses a significant flight risk or threat to public safety, bail is out of the picture and everyone is released on their own recognizance. And a full work week for trial parts of our courts, judge performance used as a consideration for advancement, more timely filling of judicial vacancies, and speedier trials.  Legally binding corrective action plans for out-of-compliance jails is also on the table.

Then, after some talk about youth unemployment and non-specific requirements that local governments meet the same MWBE goals as the state does, Cuomo tackled homelessness.

What does it say about us as a society? That we now pass men and women lying on the streets with the same ease that we pass light poles and mailboxes. It has become part of our new normal, but it is abnormal and it is wrong...

New York state will ensure that every local government is effectively reaching out to homeless people, or they will not receive state funding. Period. I'm also directing the MTA and Port Authority, Centro, CDTA, the RGRTA, the NFTA and all our cities to do the same.  

And, for those who would say that they're unable to help the mentally ill homeless because the law doesn't let them, Cuomo vowed to change the law.

And speaking of changing the law, Cuomo dropped a little ethics reform into the mix here, vowing to ban all outside income for legislators. This may be a non-starter, since his commission to give legislators a pay raise (on the theory that they're full time, not part time) failed in 2016. You can read about that process here, here, here, and here.

Next up? The environment. Finally tackling the threats to our water, including toxic algae and the Grumman Plume. And,

• ending any investment in  fossil fuel-related activities in the state pension fund;
• two new RFPs for offshore wind, enough to power 400,000 households;
• suing the federal government if they release GE from any further obligation to clean up the Hudson River.

Opioids? He hit on that too, promising a "comprehensive solution: more prevention, more education, more enforcement, more treatment"  -- and more lawsuits.

But we also want to advance a new approach this year, the ultimate 'follow the supply chain' strategy. Big corporations may own Washington, but they don't own New York...

The opioid crisis was manufactured, literally and figuratively. Unscrupulous distributors developed a $400B industry selling opioids, and they were conveniently blind to the consequences of their actions. They pumped these pills into society. And they created addictions. Like the tobacco industry, they killed thousands, and they did it without warning.  We will make them pay for their illegal and reprehensible conduct. We will sue them, and we will stop the spread of opioids because too many innocent lives have been lost and the time for action is now before we lose another single life.

I was surprised not to see another call out on pension investments here. Big Pharma companies seem like an easy target, I would think, for a governor who seems particularly litigious this year.

Maybe dropping everything tied to 'fossil fuel-related activities' (which seems to mean no more oil and gas companies, no more chemical companies that are involved in any kind of research or development on petroleum products, or any companies having anything to do with fracking, or staffing and supporting oil rigs, or any of the oil and gas distribution companies and possibly any of the utilities, for starters), coupled with dropping companies that don't have an 'adequate' number of women in leadership roles in the company or the boardroom, is enough pain to suffer on behalf of all the over one million members, retirees and beneficiaries in the nation's third largest pension fund?

I'm going to stop here -- going back to Professor Byrnes' comment on Castro-esque, this has gotten us not quite to the bottom of page eight of the governor's nineteen-page SOTS address. We'll pick up in another post this week.