While the battle rages on regarding the regulation of online poker, many may not realize that it is illegal to play poker in many areas of the United States. One lawmaker in the Heartland of America is looking to change that situation in his state.
According to Zach Pluhacek of the Lincoln Journal Star, Nebraska State Senator Tyson Larson has introduced legislation in that legislative body that would legalize poker in the Cornhusker State. The bill, introduced this week, particularly targeted two disciplines of the game – Draw and Hold’em – because Senator Larson considers them to be games of skill rather than chance. That is an important point because, according to the Nebraska Constitution, lawmakers are forbidden from earning revenues for the state from “games of chance.”
“You can be a professional poker player, but you cannot be a professional coin flipper,” Larson stated to Pluhacek. “You can lose a poker game on purpose, but you can’t lose a coin flip on purpose. You can have the worst hand in poker but be the best player. The math is there, the statistics are there…poker is a game of skill (and not) a game of chance.”
Larson’s proposed bill would allow bars to purchase a special endorsement on their liquor licenses that would give them the ability to run poker games. Special events for non-profit and other organizations would also be allowed to get in the game through a short-term permit. Larson’s bill would charge “fees” of 5% on cash games and tournaments, with that money heading in three different directions.
The bill proposes that half of the revenues raised by the licensing of poker would go to the Nebraska property tax credit fund and another 49% would be allocated to local governments throughout the state. The remaining 1% would be set aside in a special fund meant to assist those with problem gaming issues.
“I don’t think there’s any one ‘silver bullet’ approach that would provide property tax relief,” Larson noted to Pluhacek. “It’s a multi-step approach and I honestly believe that expanding gambling can be a part of that multi-step approach.”
Larson will have some leverage in pushing support for his proposed bill. As chairman of the General Affairs Committee that oversees liquor, gambling, libraries, cemeteries and the Nebraska Arts Council, Larson has a platform that can be used to have his bill considered. With this said, there is a sizeable opposition that Larson will have to overcome.
One of those opponents is Pat Loontjer, the Executive Director of Gambling with the Good Life, who commented to Pluhacek, “These are the same bills they drag up every year. We’re going to fight it no matter what form of expanded gambling it is…we’ve got enough.”
Loontjer has several allies in opposing Larson. The Governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, is a former board member of Gambling with the Good Life and is a firm opponent of expansion of gaming. His Lieutenant Governor, Mike Foley, has also held those anti-gaming sentiments during his time in the Nebraska State Senate. One of Larson’s fellow Senators, Beau McCoy, has indicated that he will move to have any proposals to expand gaming indefinitely postponed during the current legislative session.
Larson is indeed rocking the boat when it comes to the staid Nebraska legislature and the state’s position on many subjects. Along with his proposal to legalize poker in the state, Larson has pushed bills for allowing bars to remain open 24/7, to remove language in the laws that prohibit cigar bars and the elimination of a five-minute mandated break between games of keno.
Whether Larson is successful or not in getting his bill passed regarding live poker, it does demonstrate that it isn’t only online poker that faces battles in the legislative bodies of many states in the Union.
