Top New York Lawmaker Says Online Poker Legalization Going To Happen SoonAll Of The State's Casinos Want Internet Poker, Assemblyman Says |
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New York appears to have a very strong chance of legalizing real-money online poker sites in 2017.
According to comments Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, Chairman of the Committee on Racing and Wagering, made in an interview with fios1news.com (part 1, part 2), regulated online poker is nearly green lit for the Empire State.
“I had some issues with [online poker] in the past,” Pretlow said. “If New Yorkers are going to participate in online poker, I want it to be the fairest it could possibly be.”
Pretlow, who is sponsoring the Assembly version of the legislation, went to New Jersey to take a look at that state’s nearly $30 million online poker market to get a grasp on how geo-location technologies work. He said his “research” into online poker has left him satisfied that New York could implement its own system successfully.
Now it’s just a matter of “moving [the bill] along,” he said. State Sen. John Bonacic is sponsoring identical legislation in the other chamber. Bonacic’s bill passed the Senate by a 53-5 vote last year, and it has already cleared a committee vote in 2017. The Assembly didn’t take up the bill last year.
Pretlow also said he wanted a “sign-off” from the state’s new upstate casinos before online poker became legal. “I didn’t want to put competition in there before they even opened their doors. All four casinos have said they don’t have a problem with the state offering online poker—and the seven racinos are also eligible to be in partnership with organizations that handle online poker.”
Bonacic said basically the same thing last year with regards to all the gaming interests in the state being on board with internet poker. However, according to Bonacic, the state just decided to go with daily fantasy sports first.
New York found that its residents were spending about $1 billion each year at out-of-state casinos, so the legislature authorized four Las Vegas-style facilities for struggling upstate economies. Three of the four have opened already. That’s more good news for online poker efforts.
Pretlow is extremely confident in the bill that he is backing.
“When I do sign off on something, my colleagues feel that it is a good deal and they don’t question why I made a certain decision,” he said. “They know that if that decision was made, it’s for good reason. So, I don’t really see that there’s going to be much opposition to moving this along.”
However, he did admit that “there are some individuals in the [Gov. Cuomo] administration who are opposed to this” because “they say that it makes it too easy to gamble.” The governor hasn’t taken a public stance on the issue, but if the state’s gaming industry is on board it seems unlikely that he would veto the legislation.
More live poker in New York?
There are currently a little over 100 poker tables in the state spread between the tribal and commercial casinos. Thanks to the online poker bill classifying poker as a game of skill, it’s possible online poker could lead to more live poker.
That’s not in the bill, but changing how poker is viewed politically could open the door for new revenue streams for gaming businesses in the Empire State.
Pretlow said in the interview that he would like to see the racinos have card rooms. “I don’t see a problem with it. The house takes a rake.”
“I wouldn’t want to see [poker rooms] in every hotel lobby,” he said. “Controlling that would be an onerous task. We would keep it to our currently licensed facilities. We take baby steps.”
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