As we prepare to turn the calendar from 2013 to 2014, it’s time to look back at the past year. Poker and politics were a combination that made headlines throughout the entirety of the year, for both good and bad, as the United States – and individual state governments – struggled with the issue of poker overall and online poker specifically.
In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was faced with a decision. The New Jersey legislature had sent him a bill to regulate full online casino gaming prior to Christmas 2012 and Christie struggled with his decision. In late January, he voiced those concerns on his “Ask the Governor” radio program as the deadline for a decision approached. As Christie debated his choices, the state of Mississippi reintroduced online gaming legislation (it would fail to get out of committee in February) and the international online gaming scene underwent changes as Germany enacted online gaming legislation that only permitted sports betting while eliminating online casino games and poker.
At the start of February, Christie conditionally vetoed the online gaming bill that was sent to him, citing a few changes that he wanted to see before he would sign off on it. The New Jersey legislature quickly made those changes and, by the end of the month, Christie signed the online gaming bill, making New Jersey the third state (following Nevada and Delaware) to regulate the online gaming industry within its borders. Nevada would amend their laws during February to allow for interstate compacts to expand their player base, while legislators in California and Iowa debated bills to open up their states to online gaming.
Poker legislation was a part of many states’ agendas as winter turned to spring. Texas, Illinois and Washington all had online gaming legislation introduced in their respective state legislatures while Florida went the other direction. In passing a gaming bill, Florida prohibited “electronic” gaming in the state, which led to several subscription poker sites (such as ClubWPT.com) pulling out of the Sunshine State. Meanwhile, 14 companies applied for licensing for full online gaming in Delaware and Nevada issued online poker licenses to several casino operators, but no sites were online at this point.
That all changed in April. At the end of the month, the Nevada online poker industry was born when Ultimate Poker came online. Ultimate Poker became the answer to poker trivia questions forever when they dealt their first hand on April 30 and, for the entire spring and much of the summer, they were the only game in town. As online poker fans rejoiced in Nevada, an online gaming bill was introduced in Pennsylvania while Oregon debated a bill to shut down live poker rooms and Michigan continued what became a yearlong crackdown on their charitable poker industry.
As May arrived and the World Series of Poker began, perhaps the greatest political challenge facing poker was born. Las Vegas Sands Corporation Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson, penning an article at Forbes.com, announced his opposition to federal regulation of online gaming and poker. In that article, Adelson stated that online gaming was “a societal train wreck waiting to happen” and that it was a “plague” on society. Adelson would go on through the year to create (through the LVSC) an ant-online gaming lobbying group and said that he would spend “whatever it takes” to enact a ban on internet gaming in the United States.
Despite Adelson’s actions, Texas Representative Joe Barton reintroduced his bill for federal regulation of the online gaming industry in July. Entitled the “Internet Poker Freedom Act of 2013” (HR 2666), the bill earned a hearing in a House subcommittee in December that was the first battleground between Adelson’s anti-gaming forces and pro-online gaming supporters. House members cited the “hypocritical” stance of the LVSC regarding online gaming, but weren’t overwhelmingly in favor of Barton’s legislation. As the year came to a close, the Barton bill was still sitting in committee.
The state of California attempted to push through online poker legislation in August. State Senator Lou Correa amended his legislation, Senate Bill 678, to an “urgent” status that forced the California General Assembly to examine the bill. As the month wore on, however, legislators in the Golden State decided to table any decision regarding online gaming until 2014 at the earliest. In September, WSOP.com made its debut in the Nevada online gaming industry, becoming only the second site to go live.
October saw Delaware become the second state to go live with full online casino gaming. The state, through three sites operated out of casinos located in the state, offered its citizens a full slate of online casino gaming rather than just poker. As the end of the year came, the results were impressive; $3.8 million was wagered on those three sites by approximately 2800 customers. New Jersey announced during that month that they would be moving forward with their full online casino gaming industry in November, which drew several major players into what became a burgeoning marketplace.
As the end of the year approaches and the New Year beckons, politics and poker will remain an exciting arena. The potential for federal legislation, the continued push by state legislatures to get in on the online gaming bonanza and the ever-evolving world of the international online gaming scene should be interesting to watch as 2014 kicks off.