New York State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, Jr. is the American Gambling Awards Policymaker of the Year

The 2022 edition of the American Gambling Awards is pleased to announce Sen. Joseph Addabbo, Jr. (NY) is the 2022 “Policymaker of the Year.” The American Gambling Awards are produced by Gambling.com Group Limited, a leading provider of player acquisition services for the regulated global online gambling industry.

As Chairman of the New York State Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, Addabbo has guided gaming expansion in the Empire State to record heights, including a highly successful mobile sports betting program. Success with mobile wagering, launched in January, has resulted in a multi-million-dollar windfall in tax revenue for elementary and secondary education and grants for youth sports programming.

Addabbo, a Democrat from Queens, now is positioning the state to legalize iGaming, possibly during the 2023 legislative session. He also supports the licensing of three full downstate commercial casinos.

Charles Gillespie, Chief Executive Officer of Gambling.com Group, said, “Senator Addabbo has long been one of New York State’s most prominent advocates for legal, regulated and safe gaming, and is very deserving of receiving the Policymaker of the Year award. With great leadership like Senator Addabbo spearheading the effort, New York state will continue to be a leader in how proper online gambling regulation should look like in the United States.”

“It is an honor to be named Policymaker of the Year by the American Gambling Awards,” Addabbo said. “Bringing quality, regulated and safe gaming options to the residents of New York has been a major legislative goal of mine, and to see it expand so successfully is incredible. It is through the hard work of my office team and my legislative partners that we were able to bring legal mobile sports betting to the state, and the benefits are already beginning to be witnessed. In less than a year, New York State has collected over $500 million in tax revenue from mobile sports betting, with a large portion of that money going towards our educational system, problem gaming services, and youth sports programs. With the pending three downstate gaming licenses and the effort to consider entry into the iGaming market for our residents, the future is bright for New York, and I will continue to work on safely expanding gaming in our state.”