New York Online Poker Bill Clears Committee VoteProposal Now Sits In Senate For Consideration |
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The proposal to legalize and regulate online poker in New York advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, leaving it in the hands of the full Senate.
The legislation cleared a different committee in February. A similar bill cleared the Senate last year by a 53-5 vote, but it ended up dying in the Assembly.
There have been some concerns about the activity being legalized before the state’s new casinos are open. Three of the four Las Vegas-style commercial casinos have opened since late last year, with the final one scheduled to open in early 2018.
Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, Chairman of the Committee on Racing and Wagering, said in February that the state’s commercial casinos are onboard with web poker.
“I didn’t want to put competition in there before they even opened their doors," he said. "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.”
There are more than 100 live 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 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.”
New York has an estimated year-one online poker market of $120 million. New Jersey’s internet poker market was nearly $30 million in 2016.
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