If you’ve been living under a rock – or traversing the cavernous enclaves known as the World Series of Poker playing arenas – you might have missed some of the poker news that has been going on since the start of the WSOP. In today’s edition of “In Case You Missed It (ICYMI)” we’ll take a look at a couple of the stories making the rounds of the poker community.
Washington Tries To Deal Federal Poker Regulation – Again
Over the last couple of weeks, the U. S. Congress has been active with trying to move online poker regulation forward once again. Republican New York Representative Peter King has introduced legislation with the designation HR 2282 and entitled “The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2013,” which has drawn the attention of one of poker’s power brokers in Washington, D. C.
The Poker Players Alliance’s Vice President of Player Relations, Rich Muny, states in the weekly PPA e-mail that the organization is “excited and enthused” over the introduction of Rep. King’s bill. Along with Texas Representative Joe Barton’s previous bill regarding online poker (which died at the end of the last Congress and is set to be reintroduced in a couple of weeks), this would place two pieces of legislation in front of the House of Representatives. Due to the movement of individual states regarding the regulatory issues of online gaming, Muny believes that the federal government may now be feeling the pressure to push forward federal regulation and, on the other side of the coin, the individual states may also feel a drive to move forward with their own regulations before the federal government steps in.
With this said, the Senate is the question mark in the regulatory saga. Although Nevada Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid previously had stated that online poker regulation was a priority, he has all but deemed it “dead” in the Senate. In an interview with the Las Vegas Sun’s Karoun Demirjian published today, Sen. Reid is quoted as saying that Rep. King’s bill makes the possibility of federal regulation even less likely because, “It basically authorizes everything, poker, 21, craps, you name it.”
Adding into the sour notes, Demirjian quotes Reid as saying, “I felt for several months now that I don’t see any movement on this. I don’t see anything happening now.” With the lack of any regulation on the table in the Senate – difficult since the retirement of former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (and his support for limiting internet gaming to only poker) has left the Congress and no Republican from outside a gaming state (re: Nevada or New Jersey) has stepped up to fill his shoes in the Senate – the potential for federal regulation of online poker (at the minimum) and online casino gaming (at the max) looks dim at best.
Taking A Look Inside Michigan’s Charity Poker Rooms
The Detroit Free Press’ Bridge Magazine writer Nancy Nall Derringer journeyed into the state of Michigan and its charitable poker rooms in their June 10 issue, discovering that there is a wide diversity of opinion on whether they are good for the state or not.
Derringer follows one particular player, nicknamed “Caveman” due to his (formerly) unkempt look (he shaved both his hair and beard for Locks of Love), as he battles through a tournament at Electric Slick, a Detroit charitable poker room that was destroyed by a fire only days after the interview. In a scene straight out of a bad Hollywood script, “Caveman” hits a straight flush to knock out his opponent’s four of a kind in fours to win a $40,000 pot – except it isn’t worth that much.
The tournament, Derringer notes, is limited to a $50 buy in, and these types of tournaments run across the Wolverine State. In 2012, Derringer says that these types of tournaments netted $15.8 million for different charities across the state. Under the auspices of the Michigan Gaming Control Board, charities as diverse as a women’s auxiliary group from the Lions Club of DeWitt, the DeWitt Memorial Association (who provides different services to the needy) and the Midwest Rabbit Rescue and Re-Home benefit from the $10,000-$15,000 the charity tournaments bring in per year.
This doesn’t mean that all is grand in Michigan regarding the charity rooms. A consultant to Michigan Indian tribes and Detroit casinos, James Nye, cites several criminal acts that have occurred (including a robbery in 2009, a shooting at the same poker room a month later and a robbery in 2012 in Norton Shores) as a reason that the charitable rooms should either be eliminated or “have more oversight.” “These card rooms woefully lack an adequate regulatory structure to ensure integrity of the games and safety of the patrons,” Nye is quoted by Derringer.
The discussion continues in Michigan regarding the charitable poker room industry and it seems that the question will not be decided overnight.