Sports gambling remains illegal in New York David Lombardo, Albany Times-Union · January 7, 2019 at 12:01 am Nearly eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could implement sports gambling, New Yorkers have yet to cast a legal wager. The hold up is remarkable because New York began taking steps more than five years ago to prepare for the day that a federal prohibition on sports gambling. While it was the Assembly Democrats who backed away from legislative action last year that would hasten the coming of legal sports wagering, some gambling industry insiders – looking forward to the day when they can expand their services – assign the blame to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, in part because of an ongoing arbitration with the Seneca Indian Nation in western New York.