Poker Legislation News
Each year, the Pennsylvania legislature is not only required to devise a budget plan for the state, but is required to have it balance. In 2016, the process of doing this was a mess and with just a few days left before 2016, the budget still doesn’t balance. One of the sticking points revolved around… Read more »
Nervous about potential online gambling-ending legislation, internet gaming operators are making plans to bolt the Australian market. In the past week, the first domino fell, Vera&John, a site that sounds more like a place to order chocolate-dipped fruit than an online casino, told its Australian customers that their accounts will have to be closed. In… Read more »
Tribal online poker and gambling in California looked dead in the water a couple years ago, but now it is official. Judge Anthony J. Battaglia of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, the Santa Ysabel Gaming Commission, Santa Ysabel Interactive, and others violated… Read more »
Canada’s telecommunications regulator continued to stand firm against the possibility of an internet service provider-directed ban on online gambling sites Friday, reiterating that it has the final say on what websites – if any – can be blocked. In May, the Québec legislature passed Bill 74, the budget bill. Among everything else that would be… Read more »
Already in preparation for taking office on January 20, Vice President-Elect Mike Pence has quite a bit on his plate. That isn’t stopping a group of state Attorneys General from lobbying on their behalf for a federal ban on online gaming and/or poker in either the current “lame duck” session or once the VP becomes… Read more »
Residents of New Jersey voted overwhelmingly against a ballot measure Tuesday that would allow for the construction of two casinos outside of Atlantic City. With over 2.8 million votes cast, the “No’s” destroyed the “Yes’s” 2,201,768 to 633,034. Casino gambling was legalized in New Jersey in 1976, but restricted them to being located only in… Read more »
The New Jersey Senate passed a bill on Thursday designed to keep billionaire investor Carl Icahn from re-opening the Trump Taj Mahal for five years. The bill, S2575, was affirmed by a vote of 29 to 6 (with 5 not voting) and would amend the portion of the state law that details how someone could… Read more »
A Pennsylvania hearing on internet gambling was supposed to be held yesterday, but as you might be able to tell both from the title of this article and the phrase “supposed to,” that never happened. The goal of the hearing in front of the House Gaming Oversight Committee was to discuss how other states had… Read more »
In what has been a surprising move (considering how late in the legislative session the action comes and the lack of previous interest in the subject), Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has filed a bill on the Senate agenda that looks to be taking up the action of either banning online gaming and poker or… Read more »
With the time running out on its legislative session, the Pennsylvania state legislature has yet to act on funding their Fiscal Year 2017 budget, leaving in limbo the future of online gaming and/or poker in the state in limbo. As of yet, however, the members of the legislature haven’t exactly tipped their hands as to… Read more »
Last week, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) voted unanimously (four to nil) to create a panel to study online gaming and daily fantasy sports. The special commission will be headed by the chairs of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Sen. Eileen Donoghue and Rep. Joseph Wagner, and will have its first… Read more »
In May, the Canadian province of Québec passed its budget bill, Bill 74, which is normally very boring to the average person, but this bill contained a twist that outraged a lot of people. Bill 74 authorized the province to require internet service providers (ISPs) to block any online gambling site that was not licensed… Read more »
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 »
