Jake's 58 operators seek rule change to allow sports betting

ALBANY — Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. is trying to persuade state lawmakers to let it operate a sportsbook at Jake's 58, enabling gamblers to wager on football, baseball, golf or any sporting event.

It will require a green light from Albany.

Under current state law, a sportsbook operation is limited to full-fledged casinos such as the multiple upstate casinos that offer live dealer table games like poker. Jake’s 58 Hotel & Casino, the Suffolk OTB gambling facility in Islandia, isn’t classified as a full casino because it only has electronic gaming machines.

Suffolk OTB leaders are trying to change that and have been walking the halls in Albany to try to get legislators to amend the law and allow it into the party.

Their argument: Sportsbook venues are growing in popularity around the country and Long Island doesn’t have one. That should be changed.

"It is incredible to consider the fact that Long Island has almost 3 million residents but not one sportsbook," Phil Boyle, president and CEO of Suffolk OTB, told Newsday while visiting lawmakers at the State Capitol.

Two state legislators from Suffolk have introduced a bill to allow it to happen: Sen. Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood) and Assemb. Steve Stern (D-Huntington). The measure is before the racing and wagering committees in the Senate and Assembly.

Neither lawmaker returned messages seeking comment, but in a memo filed with the bill, they noted Jake’s 58 is undergoing an expansion expected to add some 300,000 square feet to the facility and is "one of the largest economic development projects in the Long Island region." A sportsbook would attract even more customers and generate more tax revenue for the state, they said.

Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee Chairman Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Queens) told Newsday he thinks it’s a good idea but structuring a law to permit it will be complicated.

Addabbo said he doesn’t know if the state would simply give Suffolk OTB permission to open a sportsbook or if it would be easier, given current gambling laws, for Suffolk to forge an agreement with an operator that has a casino license. The casino would operate the sportsbook but patrons could go to Jake’s 58 to watch and wager. 

"Anything is possible but there has to be some action, statutorily," Addabbo said.

Given the complications and that the Senate and Assembly will be focused on budget negotiations at least into April, the fastest anything could happen would be before June 4, the scheduled end of the 2026 state legislative session. Even that might be a stretch, Addabbo said.

"Realistically, I don’t see it happening by this June," Addabbo said. "But you could reach a framework this year. We talk about it this year so that by the time Jake’s is up and running with their expansion next year, we might have something."

The New York Council on Problem Gambling, while stressing it doesn’t take a stand for or against legalized gambling, said any expansion raises concerns.

"We are always concerned that expanding gambling and increasing access will result in additional individuals and families struggling with gambling harms,” Michelle Hadden, the group’s executive director, wrote in an email. “Mitigating that harm includes training staff, making resources and information on support services readily available, treating patrons who are struggling with care and concern and ensuring that practices to promote the product and the product itself are not predatory.”

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy