New York Weighs Ban on Sportsbook Limits Amid Fairness Debate

New York lawmakers will consider legislation in 2025 that would bar sportsbooks from limiting or banning customers solely because they win, placing the state at the center of a national debate over fairness in sports betting.

Assemblymember Alex Bores introduced the Fair Play Act in September. The proposal would make it illegal for operators to reduce bet sizes or close accounts based on a bettor’s success. The bill includes exceptions related to responsible gambling safeguards, fraud, or integrity concerns. It has been assigned to the Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee and will be taken up when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

If enacted, New York would become the first U.S. jurisdiction to ban limiting based on customer profitability. However, other states have already begun examining the practice.

 

Other States Review Limiting Practices

Both Massachusetts and Wyoming have recently investigated how frequently sportsbooks restrict betting activity. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) spent more than a year reviewing the issue, including hearings with sportsbook operators. The commission said its inquiry focused on transparency and consumer protection.

Carrie Torrisi, who leads the MGC’s Sports Wagering Division, reported that internal sportsbook data confirmed a pattern in how limits are applied. “Analysis confirmed that players who consistently beat the closing line are likely to have a lower stake factor, meaning have their limit lowered,” Torrisi told the commission. “Players who do not consistently beat the closing line are more likely to have a higher stake factor.”

According to the data, just over 0.5% of bettors in Massachusetts were subjected to limits. The extent of those restrictions varied. MGC Chair Jordan Maynard said the findings validated complaints from sharp bettors who claimed they were being targeted, but he noted operators have a legitimate need to manage financial risk. Commissioners suggested sportsbooks should provide clearer explanations when limits are imposed, but they took no regulatory action.

In Wyoming, state regulators found similar results. A review by the Wyoming Gaming Commission reported that fewer than 1% of accounts faced limits, and less than 10% of those cases involved bettors exploiting operator errors. “Given all the data we’ve collected, staff does not see a problem in Wyoming with the limiting of sports wagering.” Sportsbook operators are expected to oppose the Fair Play Act. Companies have long defended limiting policies as a standard risk-management tool used to curtail losses from professional bettors.

“It is customary for sports betting operators to manage customer betting limits at the individual level to manage enterprise risk levels… If it were not possible, betting options would be restricted globally and limits available to customers would be much lower.” Executives at DraftKings and Penn Entertainment have also warned publicly that restrictions on customer limiting could harm their business models—especially in high-tax states like New York, where operators pay a 51% tax rate, one of the highest in the nation. Since New York launched sports betting in 2019—and mobile betting in January 2022—the state has become the largest regulated market in the U.S.

• Total wagering handle: $74.9 billion
• Operator revenue: $6.7 billion
• Tax revenue for New York: $3.4 billion+

Those numbers underscore the market’s financial significance and the high stakes of any regulatory changes.

 

New York bill would prohibit sportsbooks from limiting or banning customers solely for winning too often.

 

What Happens Next

The Fair Play Act faces its first test in committee early next year. Lawmakers will hear from operators, consumer advocates, and responsible gambling groups. If advanced, the bill would move to the full Assembly and then to the New York Senate. The proposal positions New York at the forefront of a broader policy question now emerging across the U.S.: should a legal betting market allow operators to restrict sharp bettors, or should winning customers have equal access under consumer protection laws?