Tioga Downs Sportsbook

When the US Supreme Court made their decision in May 2018 it was expected that NY sports betting would arrive shortly thereafter. The overruling of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) seemed to give a green light to the state’s casinos providing a sportsbook experience on top of what they already offered. A number of deals have been done by casinos to prepare themselves to offer NY sports betting once made legal. Tiogo Downs Casino is one of these establishments, making a deal with FanDuel. We expect to see a Tiogo Downs Sportsbook in 2019.

Tioga Downs Casino

The Tioga Downs Casino is located in Nichols, NY, which is halfway between Binghampton and Elmira, and is already home to an extensive gaming and casino operation, as well as an onsite racetrack.

There are all the favorites in the gaming area and visitors can take their pick from slots and table games including:

• Blackjack
• Craps
• Roulette
• Pai Gow Poker
• Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em
• Let it Ride
• 3-Card Poker
• 4-Card Poker
• Big 6 Wheel

There has been a lot of work done at the resort in the last few years with a 161-room hotel, spa and a 65,000 square foot event and banquet center opened in October 2017. There are also a number of restaurant and bar options at Tioga Downs.

There is also a lot of interest by the Tioga Downs owners to set up an online poker service, which would be of great interest to New York residents unable to make the trip to the bricks and mortar casino resort.

Tioga Downs Racetrack And Expansion

The casino complex has recently seen a $134 million expansion, resulting in a 33,000 square feet gaming floor which is home to over 1,000 slot machines and over 40 different table games.

For live sports action Tioga Downs Casino Resort is home to harness racing from May to September – and broadcasts racing from all over the country throughout the year. With such experience of actual live sport it seems that Tioga Downs is in just the right place to open up a sports betting facility to go with the rest of their top of the range areas.

Sports Betting At Tioga Downs

As with a number of other casinos in New York, Tioga Downs has already lined up a sports betting provider in readiness for the expected decision to allow full sports betting in the state.

FanDuel is Tioga Downs’ affiliate partner and the fantasy sports company has already set up their FanDuel Sportsbook for NJ sports betting and will look to do so for NY sports betting.

Who Are FanDuel?

FanDuel started in 2009 and are now one of the biggest fantasy sports companies in the world. Their highly popular fantasy sports operation seamlessly moved into sports betting with FanDuel Sportsbook.

If you are wondering whether a fantasy sports site can handle sports betting as well, you should realize that renowned British bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair acquired FanDuel last year and merged assets in an attempt to become one of the major players in the US sports betting market.

Fantasy sports are already legal in New York of course, so there is established brand awareness that FanDuel and Tioga Downs can use to attract even more customers. The merging of fantasy and real sports has been successful in New Jersey and it is highly likely that this hybrid will work at Tioga Downs.

What Can Be Expected from Tioga Downs Sports Betting?

When New York lawmakers finally push through legislation that will allow sports betting – now expected in the first half of 2019 – there will be a rush for established casinos to be involved and that is why Tioga Downs already have their FanDuel deal in place.

As in New Jersey, customers will be able to bet on a variety of events in the sportsbook without having to be an actual resident of the state. The requirement will probably only be that the bettor is physically in the state of New York at the time of the wager. This also applies to online sports betting in New Jersey and it is likely that New York will follow suit.

Popular sports for betting include NFL, NBA, tennis and golf – and there will surely also be an extensive soccer betting market as the popularity grows in the US in line with its traditional support around the globe.

What Kinds of Bets Will Be Available in New York?

NY sports betting is expected to be big and Tioga Downs will be able to combine a world class casino resort, racetrack and a sportsbook in what will be the complete package for many of its customers.

There will be thousands of sports betting markets open to visitors and customers but the main types of bets will likely be:

• Exchange wagering
• Parlays
• Over/Under (Totals)
• Moneyline
• Pools
• Props
• Straight bets

Many of these will be familiar with customers already but there is sure to be some kind of customer support service available for anyone new to the exciting world of sports betting.

Which kind of wager is placed sometimes depends on the sports event in question anyway – but new customers can be assured that there will be a lot of choice and it will not be any trouble making the right selection.

NY Mobile Sports Betting?

We are still waiting for New York to fully agree to how sports betting will operate in the state – even though the ruling was made last year. But if, as expected, these sportsbooks open at the various established casinos then it also seems likely that an online operation will be set up to take advantage of the interest in New York.

Online sports betting sites are hugely popular in Europe where sports betting is legal and customers find the accessibility and range of betting markets a huge attraction in deciding how they want to bet. The huge area that New York covers also means that there will be many who are unable to make it to the Tioga Downs Casino in person – so an online site seems to be the obvious answer.

The Future of NY Sports Betting

With the ruling last year from the US Supreme Court to overturn PASPA there is a lot of scope for the casinos such as Tioga Downs to make a real big play for sports betting – both land-based and online.

The New York lawmakers are still ironing out the details but Tioga Downs seems in a good place to offer a great sports betting service as soon as they are able to do so. Teaming up with FanDuel is a good move too as sports betting, especially online, will be everywhere in New York soon and partnering with established professionals in the industry should mean that Tioga Downs will be one of the most popular sportsbooks in the state.

It seems only a matter of time that sports betting will be available to anyone in New York and with estimates that over $9 billion was illegally bet on sports in the state in 2016, it makes sense for the legislators to usher in a legal business model that can bring in tax money to be used in the state.