In what has been a nearly two year battle between state regulators and operators, a second hearing on new proposed regulations for the Michigan charitable poker industry is set for Friday.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board will hold a public hearing on the changes to current regulations in the state regarding charitable poker from 9AM-11AM in Lansing, MI. The Michigan Historical Library and Museum, located at 702 West Kalamazoo Street in Lansing, will host the hearing, but there are methods for submitting written comments for those that cannot make the hearing in person. If someone would like their comments submitted for the record, they can submit them via e-mail to MGCBweb@michigan.gov.
A previous hearing earlier this month drew out a contingent of supporters railing against the proposed changes. More than 140 people – mostly card room owners, charitable organizations and players – testified in this hearing that the new regulations that are under review would essentially kill charitable poker rooms and, as a result, the fundraising mechanism that many charities use to raise needed funds.
The executive director of the MGCB, Rick Kalm, has been aggressively attacking the charitable poker rooms around the state since control of that industry was placed in MGCB hands in 2011. A ban was put in place at that time for new licenses and the MGCB’s oversight has since resulted in only approximately 40 rooms still active (from a high of 65 in 2011). Since June 2013, the MGCB has also suspended 60 charities’ licenses (some temporarily, some permanently) for violations of the current regulations.
Kalm wants to take the regulations even further than what is currently enacted, which has already affected the ability of the rooms and the charities to raise funds. Earlier this year, the MGCB forced rooms to cut the number of charitable events per day to three with chip sales of $45,000. Under the previous laws, charitable poker rooms could host up to six charities per day with chip sales of $90,000. If these proposed new regulations are enacted (the Michigan General Assembly does not have to vote, the approval would come through a committee meeting), then the charities and the poker rooms would be under even more scrutiny.
Kalm’s new proposals would remove the ban against the opening of new poker rooms, but it would be at a heavy price. Those rooms in existence could only host one event daily with maximum chip sales of $15,000. The rooms would only be able to operate 120 days out of the year and charities would have to have a bigger presence at events, including a minimum number of members of the charity monitoring the proceedings, and would have to show they derive at least $2000 of their fundraising from methods other than the “millionaire parties” at the poker rooms, among other new regulations.
An article from LivingstonDaily.com’s Christopher Behnan points out how certain charities would be affected by the new regulations. The manager of the Howell Shark Club, Mark Merrill, pointed out an instance last year which saw a charity that helps to provide affordable child care use its regulated poker nights (charities can have 16 over a given year) in a three month time span rather than over a 12-month period, which the poker room adapted to by adjusting their schedule. “They might not have survived without charity poker that year,” Merrill commented to Behnan.
Merill also looks at the new regulations as a hindrance to the Shark Club. “You’re cutting us down to three days a week,” Merrill said to Behnan. “Charities will suffer, so will employment. You’ll have more people on the unemployment line.” (According to the U. S. Department of Labor, Michigan’s current unemployment rate is 9%, ranking it 48th in the nation only ahead of Rhode Island, Illinois and Nevada.)
The endgame could be determined soon, but it doesn’t appear that the supporters of Michigan’s charitable poker rooms will be giving up the fight. Poker News Daily will continue to monitor the situation.
