Michigan To Take Look At Regulating Online PokerLegislation Would Allow Online Casino Gambling |
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An online casino bill was introduced in Michigan this week, as the state joins the likes of Pennsylvania, New York, California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Hawaii in considering internet poker regulation in 2017.
The efforts last year in Michigan went down to the wire. The legislation was still alive as of December, but lawmakers failed to push the bill across the finish line before time ran out.
In June, Michigan’s Senate Regulatory Reform Committee signed off on the bill, but the full Senate vote never occurred. According to the Poker Players Alliance, a committee hearing on this year’s legislation is planned for next week.
Michigan’s land-based gambling market is about $3 billion between the more than two dozen tribal and commercial casinos. Michigan has now looked at online casino games for the past four years. The state did decide to have an online lottery, kicking off those games in 2014.
The three Detroit casinos won $1.39 billion last year, but it was only 0.7 percent better than 2015. Those casinos ended the year with a 6.8 percent gaming win decline in December.
The legislation, dubbed the “Lawful Internet Gaming Act,” comes from Sen. Mike Kowall, a Republican. He’s the man that spearheaded the efforts in 2016.
According to the bill in its current form, online casinos licensed by the state of Michigan must offer poker. In other words, a site couldn’t skip poker and offer only online slots and other table games.
If the bill is successful, Michigan would be the first state to regulate online poker since 2013. Right now, only Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have online poker. New Jersey has the lion’s share of that market with nearly $30 million in online poker revenue last year.
Pennsylvania and New York are considered the front-runners for online poker this year.
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