New York lawmakers are weighing a pair of bills that would require online sportsbooks to use geofencing to block bets from anyone physically on a college campus in the state. The measures, A10526 in the Assembly and S10470 in the Senate, would cover licensed operators and platform providers and would also require colleges to share geographic data and campus boundary information with the state gaming commission. New York has nine licensed online sports betting operators, eight of them active.
As covered on Aug. 12, New York regulators were also reconsidering a separate biometric-account proposal aimed at keeping minors off betting apps. Supporters of the campus bill, including Sen. Andrew Gounardes, have cast it as a safeguard rather than a ban, saying many platforms already use geolocation and geofencing and that campuses should remain focused on learning rather than financial risk-taking.
According to WorldCasinoDirectory, the Senate bill sat before the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee and had not yet been scheduled for a hearing. The Assembly companion was expected to be reviewed by the Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee. If enacted as written, operators and platform providers would have until Aug. 1, 2027, to comply, and the gaming commission would be responsible for adopting rules and setting civil penalties.
CasinoBeats reported that the bills did not advance to a floor vote during the 2026 regular session, meaning they would need to be reintroduced next year unless lawmakers take them up in a special session. It also reported that GeoComply said property-level geofencing is possible with modern geolocation technology, but that the real debate is the added complexity and cost of keeping those boundaries accurate.
Douglas Mishkin of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner raised similar concerns, asking how New York would define and maintain the boundaries of campuses that can include roads, businesses, hospitals, athletic facilities, housing and mixed-use spaces. He said geofences can be overinclusive or underinclusive if they are drawn too widely or too narrowly, and that the underlying data have to stay current.
Separately, PlayUSA reported that New York’s “Take a Pause” campaign has drawn growing engagement since mobile sports betting launched in January 2022, and traffic to OASAS’s gambling support site rose from about 38,000 annual visitors in 2022 to roughly 190,000 visits between Jan. 1 and Aug. 21, 2026. Jerry Gretzinger said the campaign is meant to get bettors to ask whether gambling is still enjoyable or has become a repeated cycle, with warning signs including excessive spending, strained relationships and more time spent gambling. The messaging emphasizes awareness and moderation rather than discouraging gambling entirely.
