Poker Legislation News
Arkansas poker and gaming lovers have made their voices heard, but now it is time to make their votes count. An amendment to the state constitution has been put on the November General Election ballot that would legalize most casino gambling and authorize the construction of up to three casinos in the state. The drive… Read more »
In some of the least surprising news ever, it appears that online poker legislation will not be going anywhere in California this year. There actually had been some solid headway made in the last several months, but as usual, different stakeholder groups could not come together on a final compromise, so Assemblyman Adam Gray’s AB… Read more »
The state of New Jersey was dealt a harsh blow in its quest to be able to launch a legal sports betting industry on Tuesday when the twelve judges of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia made their en banc ruling that the state’s efforts to legalize sports betting violated federal law.… Read more »
An administrative law judge in Florida ruled earlier this week that one of the top destinations in Florida for poker tournaments, bestbet Jacksonville, has been violating state laws in running certain games on their floor. The case was a challenge by the Jacksonville Kennel Club, the owners of bestbet Jacksonville, and was heard by Administrative… Read more »
In an e-mail sent to Poker Players Alliance (PPA) members late last week, PPA Vice President of Player Relations Rich Muny relayed the positive news that a ban on internet poker has been removed from the Republican Party’s platform in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Ever since online poker has been a… Read more »
After a much hyped spending bill was passed through the Pennsylvania General Assembly – one that included regulations for online gaming and poker as a part of the budget – the bill has yet to be signed by Governor Tom Wolf. Why is that? It comes down to the crux of what holds up many… Read more »
As we in the United States have been focusing our attention on the legislative roller coasters in Pennsylvania and California and those states’ efforts to legalize and regulate online gambling, a new internet gaming law in the Czech Republic has flown a bit under the radar. About a month ago, Czech President Miloš Zeman signed… Read more »
It has taken years and years for any progress to made on legalizing online poker in California. In the last year or so, some solid steps have been taken, but one huge obstacle still remains: a bloc of hard-line Native American tribes who want to grab as much of the online poker pie for themselves… Read more »
Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment to HB 2150 that would expand gambling in the state, including the legalization and regulation of online poker. That was fantastic, but it was still just a vote on an amendment. The bill was then sent to the Appropriations Committee for financial… Read more »
Pennsylvania State Representative John Payne, one of the champions of online poker in the state legislature and sponsor of HB 649, a bill which would legalize and regulate online poker, said recently that he believed a re-vote on the issue would be coming soon. In late May, the House rejected a pair of amendments to… Read more »
The California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed an online poker legalization and regulation bill Wednesday, meaning that poker can finally (possibly) get a full vote on the Assembly floor. AB 2863 was supposed to be up for a vote by the committee last week, but some amendments were added that pushed the timetable out to today.… Read more »
About a month or so ago, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives shot down two amendments to HB 649, a bill which would legalize and regulate online poker in the Commonwealth, putting the launch of online gaming on hold. A re-vote at a later date was requested and now it looks like the bill’s sponsor, Rep.… Read more »
I enjoy both online poker and daily fantasy sports. Neither is perfect – there are certainly issues with each that I would like fixed (hey sites: call me, my consulting rates are competitive) – but both pastimes are a lot of fun and should be legalized and regulated across the United States. And they both… Read more »
Online poker hit a significant milestone in New York Tuesday, but as the legislative session draws to a close, the future of the game in the Empire State is still a question mark. For the first time in the state, an online poker bill passed through a full chamber of the legislature, as S5302 was… Read more »
With the 2016 World Series of Poker in full swing, we sometimes might overlook that there is OTHER poker news that is going on. With that in mind, it is time to take a look around the poker world and check that information out, just “In Case You Missed It.” Michigan Senate Committee Passes Online… Read more »
Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted on two gambling amendments and passed neither, meaning that the progress of a possible regulated online poker industry in the Commonwealth was slowed. Cross our fingers, but hopefully the slowdown is brief as the House is scheduled to reconvene next Monday, June 6th, and hold a re-vote… Read more »
A month ago, Senator Lindsey Graham (R – SC), a member of the kiddie table version of the Republican Presidential debates, resurrected his attempts to ban online poker in the United States by shoehorning language into the Senate Appropriations Bill. It was a longshot attempt to advance Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson’s anti-poker agenda,… Read more »
It was a weird day in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Tuesday as legislators voted on whether or not to legalize online gambling, including online poker, in the Commonwealth. It was generally thought that Tuesday would be a close win for the online poker community, but it strangely wasn’t. The conclusion, though, is yet to… Read more »
Failed Republican presidential candidate, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, is best known to poker fans as Sheldon Adelson’s jock-carrier and the Senator who introduced Adelson’s Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) last year. RAWA, if it even became law, would place a ban on online gambling in the United States, wiping out the current legal,… Read more »
On Wednesday, the Michigan legislature’s Regulatory Reform Committee held an informational hearing to discuss two related online poker bills: SB 889, which would legalized and regulate online gambling in the state and SB 890, which would amend Michigan’s penal code to permit for the online gambling that is legalized in SB 889. From the sounds… Read more »
Offering her opinion from a national seat on an issue that the state is trying to figure out (the civics people in the audience will realize how that sounds), California Senator Diane Feinstein recently penned a letter to the California General Assembly in opposition to their efforts to pass effective regulation of online poker. The… Read more »
We wrote briefly earlier today about the amendments added on to California AB 2863, a bill which would legalize online poker in the state and how they were preceded by a letter to the bill’s co-author, Assemblyman Adam Gray, from a group of tribes who desperately want a “bad actor” clause included in the final… Read more »
With a hearing on Adam Gray’s California Assembly Bill 2863 looming this week, it has appeared that after years of squabbling, the various stakeholders were finally getting close to an agreement that would make online poker legal in the state. That may still be true, but last week, a couple amendments were added to the… Read more »
According to a brief report by TheHill.com, major players on both sides of the online gambling battle in the United States have acquired more troops. Both Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG) and Amaya Services Ltd., a division of PokerStars parent Amaya, have hired new lobbyists. The CSIG, funded by Las Vegas Sands… Read more »
On Wednesday, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) Director David Rebuck issued a “Director’s Advisory Bulletin” in order to address how his department will handle online poker operators who offer their games in “grey markets.” These grey markets are jurisdictions in which online gaming is not explicitly forbidden, but also in which there is… Read more »
