The conversation about whether prop betting should be curbed looks sure to continue in 2026 after the controversies of 2025, and a lawmaker in the biggest U.S. sports betting market has proposed a drastic measure.
New York Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal introduced Bill A9343 in December. The legislation would amend state law to remove “in-play bets” from the legal definition of authorized sports wagering activity in the state. The summary of the bill states that, by doing so, it would direct the state gaming commission to prohibit in-play sports wagers.
The idea has been referred to the Committee on Racing and Wagering and the change would be effective immediately were it to be passed by both chambers of the legislature and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
What exactly is in-play betting?
While positioned as a ban on in-play sports bets, the language of the short text of the bill leaves a little uncertainty at face value.
A9343 would scratch the term “in-play bets” from paragraph x of section 1367 of New York’s racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law. However, it would leave untouched another term, “in-game wagering,” which is listed as a separate item under examples of permissible sports wagers in paragraph x of the wagering law.
The differences in how those two phrases are defined is not specified in either the wagering law or Bill A9343. The only “in-play” or “in-game” definition in section 1367 of the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law is the term “in-play sports wager,” defined as a bet placed on a sports event after the event has begun and before it ends. That term and definition ostensibly could apply to both “in-play bets” and “in-game wagering,” so the bill’s removal of one of those terms but not the other begs some questions.
SBC Americas reached out to Rosenthal’s office regarding the intent of A9343 and the discrepancies between the language of that bill and the language of the state racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, but did not hear back.
More than just micro
Although the language leaves some things open to interpretation, the ultimate intent seems to be to clamp down on in-game wagering more broadly than just the single-action micro bets that were top of mind in the latter portion of 2025.
In response to the Cleveland Guardians pitch-fixing scandal unearthed last summer, MLB announced that its partner sportsbooks had agreed to set limits on pitch-level betting, capping them at $200 per bet and rendering them ineligible for inclusion in parlays. The league and the betting operators said the changes were made to mitigate integrity risks. The NBA is also considering changes to its prop betting policies.
Meanwhile, next door to New York, a pair of bills filed in New Jersey in the second half of 2025 would ban in-play “micro” bets on the next action in a sporting event, such as whether the next pitch in a baseball game will be a ball or a strike. Other wagers that do not concern the final outcome of the game, such as how many points a basketball player might score in a game or whether a football player will score a touchdown, would not be covered by the proposed ban in the Garden State.
New York’s new bill seems to take a broader swing, widening the focus beyond just next-action bets.
Lawmakers in other states such as Maryland have also recently floated the idea of looking to curb prop wagering to some extent, citing concerns over betting manipulation and sporting integrity.
