Bovada to Exit New York

Splintering off the Bodog brand in 2011, Bovada has been serving many states for a decade. However, New York will no longer be one of these states.

Bovada recently emailed its New York customers with the following message:

“We are writing today to let you know that as of June 21^st, we will no longer be offering services to residents of New York state.

“Decisions of this nature are made on a state-by-state basis and with consideration of several factors; the most critical being the future climate for online gambling in the state of New York.

“The newly introduced regulation and its increased restrictions on our players residing in NY has ultimately led us to this difficult decision.”

Bovada will no longer offer its online sportsbook, poker site, or casino to residents of the Empire State.

Why Did Bovada Leave New York?

Many states in the US have legalized and regulated one or more forms of online gambling in recent years. Sports betting has particularly become popular ever since PASPA was repealed in 2018.

Bovada is an offshore gambling site that doesn’t hold licensing in any American state. Therefore, it has chosen to exit some states with legalized online gambling.

It already doesn’t offer services to Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, and New Jersey. New York will now join this list.

Of course, the Empire State doesn’t offer regulated online poker, sports betting, or casino games at the time of this writing. However, it has plans to do so in the near future.

Bovada noted the “future climate” for New York’s internet gambling market as a reason why it will vacate the state.

What to Expect When New York Launches Legal Online Gambling

Internet gambling legislation has been introduced to the state legislature. Even without any bill being approved, New York is largely expected to move forward with mobile gambling by 2022.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already signed a state budget, which allows for two online sportsbooks. A bidding process has already started, whereby two operators will be chosen.

State Sen. Joe Abbaddo, who’s favored NY online gambling for years, hopes that the state will begin taking mobile sports bets by early 2022.

“You don’t want to miss out on another Super Bowl,” Abbaddo said. “I think this would be a good benchmark for New York to see how we’re doing.”

Ignition Casino Still Serving New York

While Bovada may be leaving New York, Ignition’s online casino and poker room will continue serving the Empire State.

Ignition is also part of the complicated and murky Bodog family. Like Bodog, Ignition Poker runs on the PaiWangLuo Network.

In 2016, Bovada Poker temporarily stopped serving US players. Its player base migrated over to Ignition. While Bovada has since begin serving American poker players again, the migrated customers have stayed on Ignition.

Outside of fantasy sports, Ignition Casino doesn’t provide mobile sports betting. Therefore, it’ll only offer online poker and casino games to New York residents.

It’s unclear what will happen to Bovada’s current poker player pool in New York. The site could encourage its existing players to move over to Ignition. In this case, the Bodog family would keep some of its NY-based players inhouse.