An additional online-poker legalization bill has been introduced within the State of New York, amid cloudy prospects in the state that 2019 will be the year that such a legalization measure becomes law within the Empire State. NY Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow on February 5 dropped Assembly Bill 4924 (A4924).
Pretlow, the powerful chairman from the NY Assembly’s Committee on Racing and Wagering, has introduced several previous measures related to on-line poker in prior years, along with a look inside A4924 shows it to be virtually identical to his last effort, the 2017-18 session’s A5250. The bill’s method, then remains the same, initial to categorize on-line poker particularly as a game of ability below New York’s stricter-than-other-states gambling laws, and after that to authorize the creation of a regulatory framework for the issuing of licenses and also the collecting of tax revenue.
As in Pretlow’s earlier bills, there’s a one-time application fee for operators of $10 million. Pretlow’s bill remains notable for not having any “bad actor” language within it, in contrast towards the NY Senate’s version of an online-poker legalization bill that was championed by State Sen. John Bonacic in recent years. Pretlow’s bill – still not a lot past a shell measure at this point, also carries forward earlier language regarding feasible interstate compacts.
Obviously, there’s much more towards the tale, and that whole interstate thing heads the list. Within the wake of final month’s DOJ opinion reversing the 2011 opinion offered by then-US Lawyer General Eric Holder that restricted the attain of the US’s antiquated Wire Act, the prospects for any interstate on-line gambling (including poker) appear headed to a federal court fight. Intrastate poker appears much more safe within the meantime, yet in any occasion, Pretlow’s bill is due for an overhaul.
Whether or not it gets the chance for such a makeover is uncertain. In previous years, Pretlow has been willing to trade off possible votes on any online-poker legislation in New York in favor of other gambling-expansion opportunities, most notably casino expansion within the state, every day fantasy sports (DFS), and much more recently, legalized sports betting. There’s no purpose to believe Pretlow won’t trade down online poker interests once more, especially if significant differences in between his bill and any passed Senate version continue to linger.
There’s also the matter of a current measure introduced that seeks to research the gambling habits of New Yorkers. Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal’s A0951 was introduced last month, and if passed, the bill would contact for the NY State Gaming Commission to “a statewide evaluation regarding the extent of gambling by New York state residents, such as, but not limited to the lottery, horse racing, Native American casinos, web gambling, sports betting, and poker.”
The study, if authorized, could stretch all of the way into 2023, and ant-gambling factions in the state would nearly certainly make use of the existence of such an ongoing study as a purpose not to jump the gun regarding online-poker approval. That is regardless of the truth that studies elsewhere have shown online poker to become a less-addictive gambling form than many other people, though there are definitely tragic addictive-gambling tales which have surfaced in connection using the game.
Add it all up, and it is a messy tableau, certainly no much more favorable to eventual approval in 2019 when compared with prior years.