Online Poker US State Update: Massachusetts Dead for Now
There is a good posting on the popular TwoPlusTwo.com forum regarding the status of online poker legislation (or would be legislation) on the state front.
The frontrunners up to this point – Nevada, New Jersey and California – all appear to still be in play, but obstacles continue to stand in the way for all three states.
For California, the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations has come out in opposition of the current bill as it stands now. Without their support, such legislation simply will not pass.
Nevada is set to go but won’t operate beyond the Silver State’s border until federal legislation is passed.
As for Massachusetts, a bill to legalize online poker in that Commonwealth appears to be all but dead until next year.
Everest Poker had hoped a measure could come to fruition by the fall, with online poker rooms up and running by mid-2013.
State Representative Daniel Winslow, R-Norfolk, introduced an amendment to current legislation that would expand gambling in Massachusetts, allowing for a maximum of three casinos, each carrying their own separate license.
As part of Winslow’s amendment, he had hoped for the legalization of online poker in coordination with the state casino plan. A maximum of three licenses would have been granted to online poker firms. Everest, which has an office based in Massachusetts, expected to obtain one of those three Web card room licenses.
“What Representative Winslow has put together is very well-crafted,” explained Ethan Park, Internal Counsel for Cambridge Interactive Development Corp. (CIDC), an Everest Poker Network subsidiary based in the US. “It is a coordinated plan that takes online poker and subjects it to the same requirements of the casinos and, on top of this, adds a number of consumer protections.”
Park had high hopes last month in an exclusive interview with Gambling911.com.
“Massachusetts is very interested in protecting its residents,” Park said, noting that the state is well aware that hundreds of thousands of individuals within the commonwealth have been betting with foreign online gambling operators over the years. “None of the residents playing online from Massachusetts are being taxed or protected.”
Park was also optimistic that Massachusetts would consider state compacts, perhaps with New Jersey.
The Garden State is very much still in play, however, a target date some time this fall is looking most likely.
The current measure passed in the state Assembly last week and is ready for votes in both the Senate and Assembly.
While the Senate vote is expected this month, the Assembly may not vote until at least September. Also there is talk that Governor Chris Christie still has reservations and may be less willing to back any Internet gambling as long as he remains on GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s short list of Vice Presidential running mates.
- Ace King, Gambling911.com
