New York Gov. Hochul Needs Insurance coverage to Cowl Playing Points

• NY Gov. Kathy Hochul desires medical insurance firms to pay for downside playing therapy
• No state advantages extra from on-line sports activities betting by way of tax income than New York

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) begins her fifth full yr in workplace with a dedication to cracking down on rising downside playing charges within the Empire State.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers her 2026 State of the State handle in Albany on Jan. 13, 2026. A key focus of Hochul’s 2026 agenda is defending New Yorkers from downside playing and guaranteeing they’ve entry to therapy if wanted. (Picture: Darren McGee/Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul)

New York is already one of many richest gaming states, with annual business income from casinos, video lottery gaming, and sports activities betting exceeding $5 billion. The business is anticipated to solely develop within the coming years as three full-scale, Las Vegas-like on line casino locations come to the downstate space.

In anticipation of extra slot machines and desk video games, Hochul has made it a precedence of her 2026 agenda to higher deal with compulsive playing. In a part of her “Constructing Resilient Communities for New Yorkers,” the governor pledges to strengthen prevention, therapy, and hurt discount for downside playing. 

Well being Insurers Pay for Therapy

Hochul’s 2026 agenda claims it can use “evidence-based practices and helps” to develop a “data-driven” method to assist reduce societal strains attributable to New York’s regularly increasing playing business.

New York legalized 4 upstate and three downstate casinos in 2011. The state added on-line sports activities betting in 2022. New York advantages tremendously from its authorized playing market. In 2024, the state’s tax profit from casinos, VLTs, and sports activities betting was practically $2.3 billion. No state advantages extra from on-line sports activities betting than does New York.

The greater than $5.17 billion that the gaming pursuits gained from bettors, nevertheless, took cash out of customers’ pockets. Many misplaced greater than they might afford, resulting in monetary difficulties, strained relationships, substance abuse points, and psychological well being crises.  

Hochul desires medical insurance firms to foot the invoice to assist downside gamblers.

The governor needs to ‘advance laws to make sure therapy for dependancy problems is roofed by insurance coverage.’ Hochul’s agenda provides, ‘By investing in evidence-based practices to forestall and deal with playing dependancy, the Governor will make certain playing’s development doesn’t come at New Yorkers’ expense.’

New York is the most-visited state within the nation, with virtually 10 million annual guests. The Worldwide Commerce Administration says New York Metropolis is essentially the most visited metropolis, with 2024 guests totaling over 9.5 million individuals. Florida and Miami have been second in state and metropolis visitation.

Different Gaming Initiatives

Together with guaranteeing that well being insurers present downside playing therapy, Hochul is targeted on limiting betting platforms’ capacity to make use of AI-powered providers to “exploit customers’ playing habits” by way of tailor-made promotions and incentives. The Democrat desires to additionally direct the New York State Gaming Fee to difficulty steerage on how technological improvements may help in figuring out and proactively serving to downside gamblers.

Lastly, Hochul desires the state gaming fee to “discover efficient methods” to make sure that younger individuals not legally allowed to guess on sports activities should not dishonest the regulatory system by downloading offshore betting apps or utilizing the accounts of others.

“These actions will shield younger individuals from the harms of on-line betting, which embody important monetary loss and addictive habits,” the governor’s workplace concluded.