The state is cracking down on a long-standing Super Bowl tradition.

Many people spend the weeks leading up to the big game picking out boxes as a way to gamble.

Online gambling is now legal in New York, but Super Bowl pools are not.

Bar and restaurants owners are being fined if they allow Super Bowl boxes.

News 12 is told two undercover investigators asked a Suffolk bar owner if they had a pool over the weekend. When the owner said yes and gave the investigators the sheet, they took it and gave him a violation.

"...It makes no sense," says Farmingdale resident Rob Rosenthal. "They're allowing legalized betting I guess because they're getting their share of money from legalized betting."

Frank Antonetti, co-owner of The Rust and Gold in Huntington, says his restaurant does not engage in gambling but finds the latest crackdown surprising

"To all of a sudden start enforcing, you know, something that we haven't seen be enforced in years to me, selective enforcement, almost an oxymoron," Antonetti says. "It makes us to really lose faith in our leadership there."

He says illegal betting shouldn't be happening because it's just another new set of rules that bars and restaurants have to keep an eye out for.

It is not known how much businesses are being charged is they are promoting gambling or if gambling is taking place.