'It represents the holy grail of online sports betting in that this is truly one of the mega markets for it,' he said. Millions of sports fans have already placed bets in New York on January's college football championship and the NFL's Super Bowl and NCAA March Madness are right around the corner, Wallach added. 'It'll be a very successful first couple of months for New York.' 'I suspect that New York will surpass all states in their debuts,' Andrew Sneyd, FanDuel's senior vice president of brand marketing, told CBS MoneyWatch. It will take several weeks before New York reports its handles for January and February, but those closely following the sports gambling industry believe the figures will surpass the current record of $777 million held by Arizona. The state's gaming commission gave four companies - Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel and Rush Street Interactive - the OK to start accepting bets from smartphone apps on January 8, with more companies expected to get a green light before Super Bowl TKVII bets kicks off February 13.

New York became the 18th state to legalize online sports betting, but it's a whale of a player because of its 20 million-plus residents, making industry insiders believe the Empire State will set a new record for the highest amount of sports wagering in the first two months of business. New York state gambles on mobile sports betting 07:45

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