New York’s Resorts World Catskills Casino Joins Forces with Bet 365 on Sports Gambling
Bet365, a United Kingdom based online gambling entity and the world’s largest online sports gambling company, has reached an agreement to act as the sports book gaming provider for New York based Resorts World Catskills casino. The agreement includes a 50 – 50 share of profits; in addition, bet365 will acquire $50 million worth of shares of Empire Resorts – making it the second largest shareholder of the company. Bet365′s stake in Empire Resorts makes it second only to the near 90 percent share owned by Kien Huat Realty III, Ltd., the family trust of Malaysian-Chinese casino magnate K.T. Lim. This influx of cash now will allow the 9 month old Resorts World Catskills casino to excel its marketing efforts and push harder for the implementation of sports betting in its casino.
The deal is reported to have a term of at least 20 years in which bet365 will be the exclusive sports book provider for Resorts World Catskills casino. Resorts World Catskills is one of four New York based casinos authorized to offer sports gambling in the Garden state – pending the finalization of formal state wide regulations. This deal follows up bet365’s recent investment in the Hard Rock Atlantic City in July. The Resorts World Catskills casino – valued at upwards of $925 million casino and massive in size with over one million square feet, is looking to capitalize on this deal as soon as possible. Resorts World Casino certainly has a strong and viable partner in bet365 – as it’s the world’s top grossing sportsbook, with more than $3 billion in revenue.
While this is certainly great news for the New York sports betting community – there are no signs that sports betting will commence any time soon in New York. Specifically, based on the existing sports betting laws, lawmakers are supposed to draft regulations for the sports betting industry in New York. However, there are no indications that regulators in the New York State Gaming Commission have any sense of urgency when it comes to drafting these regulations.
Sports bettors in the Empire State, however, can remain optimistic as it has been reported that revenues for legalized New York sports gambling could be exceed more than $1 billion a year within five years of legalization and implementation. According to PlayNY, it possible that lawmakers could begin working on these sports gambling related regulations and measures within the next six months. New York is potentially the largest sports gambling region in the country in terms of potential profits. So lawmakers should, theoretically, try to speed things up in 2019 with this much potential revenue on the table.
