It has been a sad and familiar story for online poker bills in New York. A lawmaker decides it’s time for his state to move into the new age of gaming and proposes an online poker bill. Allowing online poker and online casino operators to partner with land-based casinos in New York will provide all entities with a new revenue stream, one that could withstand everything from a pandemic to any unforeseen circumstances.
Every year since 2016, however, the proposal(s) hit their first committee(s) and stall from there. Most often, lawmakers’ priorities change. One year, their focus might be on expanding land-based casinos. The next year, it might be to legalize or expand sports betting. Whatever their focus, online poker always makes its way quickly to the back burner.
This year, they want to try again.
Should the online poker community get its hopes up? Year After Year
The first major effort to legalize online poker came in the 2014-2015 session. Pretlow today proposes (A9509) state grant 10 licenses to run internet gambling limited, for now anyway, to Texas (and Omaha) Hold’em poker. In 2016, the issue garnered more attention when then-State Senator John Bonacic put a bill up in the Senate and Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow did the same in the Assembly. Pretlow appeared to kill his own bill when expressed doubts about the security of online poker, following up on concerns from fellow lawmakers.
In 2017, Bonacic pushed his Senate bill, which did pass the New York Senate by a significant margin. Pretlow did the House bill no help, though, when he highlighted the bad actor clause that would have prohibited PokerStars from obtaining a license. That bill died.
Assemblyman Clyde Vanel championed the House bill the following year and brought on nearly 50 cosponsors, and Bonacic moved his bill that year through the Finance Committee. But neither bill went any further. Bonacic helped NY DFS law became a reality and has led the charge for online poker. If the latter doesn’t happen this year, possibly bad news for future of online poker. https://t.co/ybahZ5y9sO Bonacic retired after that, and State Senator […]
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