Governor Cuomo is getting in on the Pokémon Go action—by directing the state Department of Corrections to ban sex offenders from playing the blockbuster app. "Protecting New York’s children is priority number one and, as technology evolves, we must ensure these advances don't become new avenues for dangerous predators to prey on new victims," he said. "These actions will provide safeguards for the players of these augmented reality games and help take one more tool away from those seeking to do harm to our children."

This decision—which will also restrict sex offenders under community supervision from playing similar games—comes after State Senators Jeff Klein and Diane Savino conducted an informal study of 100 registered sex offenders' addresses and found:

- Pokémon materialized in front of Level 2 or 3 sex offenders’ homes 57% of the time.

- Pokéstops or Gyms were located within a half-block of convicted pedophiles’ residences 59% of the time.

- A Pokémon-related item appeared near a high-level sex offenders’ residences 73% of the time.

Klein and Savino are worried that the sex offenders might set the game's "lures" to attract young players to their homes or other places. (Last month Klein also said he was considering broader legislation to regulate the game.)

The Daily News reports, "Roughly 3,000 predators currently on state parole will be immediately impacted, state officials said. The state will also be sending guidance to the counties around the state that supervise another 5,000 lower level convicted sex offenders urging them to adopt the new policy."

Playing Pokémon Go would be a violation of the sex offenders' parole.

Besides reaching out to Niantic, which developed the game, to offer the "most up-to-date information of offenders," Cuomo's press office says the Department of Criminal Justice Services is also contacting "Apple and Google to inform them of these public safety concerns."

Senator Klein thanked Cuomo for his attention to the matter, but said, "Pokémon GO provided sex offenders with a virtual road map to our children. We know that pedophiles always seek new ways to lure victims and this new technology that entertains our kids, could also bring them close to dangerous individuals instead of Pokémon.... While this directive is a good first step, there's still more work to be done legislatively to protect children who use this technology and I will continue to monitor this situation."

In other Pokémon Go in NY State news, players are not allowed to go to state prisons to Pokéhunt.