A New York Assemblymember wants to tackle the issue of sportsbooks limiting bettors in the state legislature.
Democrat Asm. Alex Bores filed A9125 on Sept. 26. The bill aims to prevent sports betting operators from limiting the size and frequency of deposits or bets made by authorized sports bettors, or from banning them based on their success rate.
The bill, which has been referred to the Committee on Racing and Wagering, would amend state law to stipulate that sportsbooks cannot limit or kick out users because said user obtains financial benefit from their wagering activity.
Exemptions would be made when it is deemed that betting activity constituted suspicious wagering activity or suggests that the bettor may have a gambling disorder, as defined in state law.
In addition, whenever an authorized sports bettor is limited or banned, the operator would have to provide written notice to the bettor within 24 hours to explain the reasoning behind and the nature and parameters of the limitations.
In effect, Bores wants to limit limiting.
The New York legislative session ended for 2025 on June 17. Lawmakers will be back at it in January and bills filed this year carry over to the next.
Second limiting-related bill of the year in NY
This is the second bill proposing to cap either how much money the user or the operator handles in the New York legislature this year. In April, Bores’ fellow Assemblyman Robert Carroll introduced a measure aimed at imposing more limits, this time on how much gamblers can wager within 24 hours.
Carroll’s A7962 would implement a maximum total wagering amount of $5,000 and a maximum number of deposits to five per 24 hours per customer at licensed sportsbooks in the Empire State, as well as calling for a complete ban on the use of credit cards for funding sports betting accounts. New York’s current law limits credit card deposits to $2,500 per year per payer.
That bill also proposed things such as restricting the time and scope of betting advertising and prohibiting the use of words such as “odds boost,” bonus” or “no sweat” in sportsbook marketing. That bill has not progressed at all since being introduced.
Massachusetts regulator redy to explore action
Meanwhile, the issue of sportsbooks limiting bettors was central to a Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) meeting on Tuesday.
Analysis commissioned by the MGC found that bettors whose betting limits were reduced were more likely to be winning bettors.. While the activity varied between operators, the total percentage of Massachusetts player accounts that were limited as of Dec. 10, 2024, was 0.64%. The majority of those (57.6%) were limited to between 1 and 24% of the default maximum bet on an app.
Commissioners recommended drafting language for a new regulation that would, at a minimum, require licensed sportsbooks to notify bettors if and potentially why their account was being limited in some capacity, similar to the measure in Bores’ New York bill.
