New York lawmakers are considering legislation that would ban college students from placing online sports wagers while on school property.
Senate Bill 10470 was introduced by Sen. Andrew Gounardes last week and referred to the chamber’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee as a bill that prohibits sports betting operators from accepting wagers from people located on a college campus.
The bill proposes several requirements for online sportsbooks in New York:
- Operators are required to use geolocation technology to prevent wagering
- The ban applies to both online sports betting operators and platform providers
- If enacted, operators must deploy geolocation technology before August 2027
Under the bill, colleges and universities also have a new role. The state institutions are required to provide the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) with the “necessary geographic data and campus boundary information to effectuate compliance.”
All New York colleges and universities that would have to provide geographic data.
Gounardes’ measure also provides consequences for violating a ban on college campus wagering via civil penalties. The bill does not disclose the exact civil penalties that can be levied.
SB 10470 has a companion bill in the New York Assembly. The Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee is set to discuss Assembly Bill 10526 after its recent introduction by Assemblymembers Rebecca Kassay and Deborah Glick.
Player protection efforts in New York
The measure adds to legislative efforts in 2026 to bolster consumer protections in New York. In February, Kassay filed a bill that requires online sports betting operators in the Empire State to provide account holders with monthly account activity statements.
The measure mandates the monthly delivery of statements via mobile push notifications. Assembly Bill 10329 passed in its original chamber but has stalled in the Senate.
Assemblymember Carrie Woerner’s Assembly Bill 9584 has also failed to progress after Assembly approval in March as a measure outlaws proxy betting. The bill also requires sportsbooks to implement monitoring procedures that are specifically designed to detect fraud, account sharing, wagering by a prohibited sports bettor, and proxy betting.
Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul voiced her desire for New York to consider new measures to provide a safe and fair regulated gambling environment. The measures include the use of biometrics to restrict underage access to online gambling platforms.
Hochul’s call for enhanced consumer protections led the NYSGC to propose new regulations to prevent operators from using AI to target bettors with personalized promos.
Sen. Jeremy Zellner also wants to improve New York’s gaming market by studying prop bets by establishing a betting task force within the Rockefeller Institute.
The effort, Senate Bill 10153, was introduced in April and referred to the Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee.
Maryland lawmaker proposes college campus ban
In 2024, Maryland Delegate Pamela Queen introduced House Bill 1087 as a legislative effort to ban “online gambling while on campus at an institution of higher education in the state.”
The bill also proposed the implementation of geolocation technology across college campuses. HB 1087 failed to advance past a first reading by a House subcommittee.
HB 1087 received pushback from Towson University. The school considered enforcing a geofence to be “not technically feasible.” Towson also raised concerns about geolocation accuracy, ethics, and private network usage.
