New York’s Gaming Commission unanimously advanced proposals to restrict how licensed mobile sportsbooks use AI to personalize promotions and wagering advice, alongside new requirements to identify and contact patrons who may be at risk of problem gambling.

The revised measures remain proposals, not rules in effect. The commission’s action puts both marketing systems and operator responses to risky betting behavior into the next stage of state review.

Proposals target personalization and at-risk bettors

The AI measure would restrict sportsbooks, their affiliates and vendors from using artificial intelligence, algorithmic profiling, machine learning, generative systems or other automated decision tools to analyze customer data and tailor promotions, bonuses, odds, betting limits, messages or product recommendations. It would also bar operators from suggesting particular wagers, types of bets or betting amounts.

The proposal would prohibit promotions intended to increase customers’ spending, revenue or engagement. It would not apply to parimutuel horse racing; the commission’s account also describes a customer-consent exception, but does not specify its scope.

A separate proposal would require licensees to identify customers who may be at risk of problem-gambling behavior and assign a person to engage them about those behaviors and related issues. New York has nine licensed mobile operators: Bally Bet, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, Resorts World Bet, Rush Street Interactive and theScore Bet. The state taxes mobile sports-betting gross gaming revenue at 51%.

Commission flags gaps between operators

Commission Chairman Brian O’Dwyer raised the risk that a customer restricted by one sportsbook could simply move to another licensed operator. He urged companies to work together and share data so that customers could not avoid intervention by switching platforms.

“The industry is on notice by me and this Commission that they need to solve this problem,” O’Dwyer said. “It’s a problem that this Commission will require to be addressed and if the industry does not address it, then we will address it, and they may not like it or the solution we come up with.”

The measures were included in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2026 State of the State program, announced in March, which addressed underage gambling, marketing to at-risk customers and gambling addiction. New York’s AI proposal draws on a similar New Jersey regulation, according to CDC Gaming, but does not amount to an outright ban on the technology.

The New York action is part of a wider debate over how sportsbooks use customer data in marketing and how regulators should respond to gambling-related risks. ProPublica reported that the commission’s proposed rules would adopt specific thresholds for identifying at-risk bettors, followed by a required check-in; the details could change as the proposals proceed.

Industry says regulated market remains central

Sports Betting Alliance President Joe Maloney said the group would continue working with regulators to ensure the proposals strengthen New York’s regulated market. He also described licensed operators as accountable to state regulators for consumer protection, responsibility and integrity.

“Since 2022, New Yorkers aged 21 plus have been able to place legal wagers in a trusted, regulated market with licensed operators held to account by regulators that ensure commitments to consumer protection, responsibility, and integrity,” Maloney said in a statement.

Maloney also said the legal framework had ended the illegal market’s monopoly and that regulated operators now generate more than $1 billion annually in tax revenue. Those figures are the alliance president’s characterization of the market, not a commission finding cited in the reporting.

The revised AI rules will receive additional public comment before returning to the commission for discussion and a possible vote. Regulators have not set a date for a final vote, leaving room for further changes before any requirements take effect.

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