At last, New York sports fans can place mobile bets on their favorite teams. Four mobile sportsbooks are now open for wagers, with five others warming up.

Start spreading the news: As of 9 a.m. Saturday, December 8, New York sports fans were finally able to be online, just in time for the college football championship and the NFL Wild Card games.

Four licensed online sportsbooks—Caesars, BetRivers, DraftKings and FanDuel—can now take online wagers. BetMGM, PointsBet, Bally Bet, WynnBet and Resorts World Sportsbook are waiting for the go-ahead from the New York Gaming Commission.

Until now, New Yorkers had few options to legally bet on sports: travel to upstate casinos to play at retail sportsbooks, or cross the border into Pennsylvania or New Jersey to gamble on their mobile devices — or at a land-based casino.

Now the floodgates have finally opened for fans to bet at their leisure, at home or on a mobile device, as long as they’re inside state boundaries. It’s legal to bet on the NFL, NBA and all other pro sports as well as all college sports except those that involve in-state teams.

”Finally I can stop biking over the (George Washington Bridge) on Sundays and take a bet over the phone,” Manhattanite Matt Lane told the New York Post. “I know this will make my girlfriend happy, especially when I win.”

What’s In It for You? Bonuses!

For sportsbooks, being first to market in New York is a great big deal—despite getting sacked with that tax rate. All the current and future providers really want your business, and they’re willing to pay with some over-the-top bonus action. For example:

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BetRivers offers a first-deposit match of up to $250 when New York sports bettors create a new account.

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Caesars Sportsbook’s Empire State Royal Welcome includes $300 on bonus cash on sign-up—plus a first deposit match up to $3,000.

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Creating an Account

Legal sports betting in the U.S. is highly regulated, for your protection. To bet on sports in New York, you have to be 21 years of age and physically located in the state when you place your wagers (you don’t have to live in New York to bet there). To create an account, you have to provide proof of ID: a driver’s license, Social Security number or other identifying info, plus your name, address and phone number.

You can fund your account with a credit card, online banking, echeck, PayPal or Skrill. You can also make a deposit at a physical casino.

All of the currently live sportsbooks in New York offer betting on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices, including iPhone and Android. On a computer, you will have download geolocation software before you can bet. Phones have GPS built in.

Big Bucks at Stake

New York expects to generate $10 billion from sports betting each year, with the nearly $1 billion in expected profits split between the state and the sportsbooks. Operators will pay a 51 percent tax on gross revenues—more by far than in other state. And though they likely won’t pull in a fortune, the prestige of being first in New York gives them bragging rights.

Richard Schwartz is CEO of Rush Street Interactive, operator of the BetRivers brand. He called New York “the largest online sports betting market by population in the United States” and said online and mobile bets are here “just in time.”

“With the … NFL playoffs approaching, and the NBA and NHL seasons in full swing, in addition to countless other sports and betting options available for play, fans have endless entertainment at their fingertips at BetRivers.”

Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, said New York “has the potential to be one of the largest sports betting markets in the U.S.”

The launch of mobile sports betting as the NFL season nears its climax is “definitely good timing,” said Assembly Gaming and Wagering Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow. “We said we wanted mobile sports betting to start before the Super Bowl. We’re ahead of schedule.”

How to Bet on Sports

But before you place your first bet, it’s important to understand how betting odds work and how to read them. Let’s look at the basics: the point spread and the moneyline.

When you bet on the point spread, you’re betting on the margin of victory. For example, if the New York Jets are 9-point underdogs against the Buffalo Bills, their odds will be listed at +9. In this example, the Jets have to either win the game outright, or lose the game by less than 9 points.

So let’s say Buffalo wins 20-10. In that case, the Jets lost by 10 points and failed to cover the spread.

When you bet on the moneyline, you’re simply betting on a team to win or lose, without a point spread. Again, the favorite will have minus odds and the underdog will have plus odds.

So let’s say the Buffalo Bills, the favorites, are listed at -300. That means if you bet $300, you will win $100 plus your money wagered if the Bills win. If they lose, you lose. If the underdog Jets are +240, you win if they win, and if you bet $100, you win $240 in addition to original $100 bet.

Now there are other bets, exotic bets like props, that come with varying odds. Say the over/under for touchdown passes by the Bills’ Josh Allen is 3. The odds for the under is -110. That means you have to bet $110 to win $100 (for a total payoff of $210). So if the under comes through—i.e., he throws two touchdown passes—it’s under 3 and you win.

Now let’s say the odds for the over are +110. If you bet $100 and he goes over 3—let’s say he throws four touchdown passes—you win $110, plus your original $100 (for a total payoff of $210).

For more on these and other kinds of sports wagers, check out a Beginners’ Guide to Sports Betting from BetMGM. Then be sure to come back to iGaming Player for the best sign-up deals at BetMGM, BetRivers and Caesars.