Gambling Legislation Introduced Across the U.S. East Coast

A number of states on the United States’ east coast have had gambling legislation dropped into the laps of State Assemblies and Committees. Legislative sessions are ripe for new bills backing gaming as New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire and Florida all eye expanding the presence of legalized gaming.

New York

In the state of New York, Senator John Bonacic reintroduced his online poker bill S3898. The proposed bill changes the definition of certain card games to games of skill, as opposed to games of chance. The bill’s primary focus is on the games of Hold’em and Omaha poker varieties.

Tuesday’s bill was passed in the State Senate by a wide margin last year and was expected to come into effect by 2023. However, the law never came passed the State Assembly and was subsequently pronounced dead on the floor by New York State Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow.

Outlook on Bonacic’s resurrection of the bill remains optimistic in the eyes of many. The Senator offered his comments on the bill in an interview with Pokernews.com, “The best hand doesn’t always win, and that doesn’t happen unless it’s a game of skill,” and when asked about his prediction on Assemblyman Pretlow’s position of the reintroduced legislation, he had this to say, “When I asked him if he was going to move the bill, he said he didn’t know. He never said to me what he told you.” The final sentence is in reference to an interview conducted between Assemblyman Pretlow and Pokernews.com last July, where he stated, “In many cases, they [the Senate] don’t look through things as closely as the Assembly does. I personally don’t think the skill vs. chance argument is a problem, but people in a more legal area think it’s a problem. I think the overall feeling is poker is a game of skill, but we’re going to have to show why it’s a game of skill rather than a game of chance.”

New Jersey

Fantasy sports wagering made headway in the State Assembly of New Jersey, when Steven Perskie, a high-profile attorney with an extensive background in gaming spoke to an Assembly committee on the legitimacy of Fantasy Sports betting. His argument centered on the practice as a game of skill rather than that of chance.

Perskie has an impressive pedigree, having served as the chairman of the Casino Control Commission from 1990-1994, a state Superior Court Judge, an assemblyman, a state senator, and chief of staff for Gov. Jim Florio, all this on top of practicing as a private attorney. His most recent clients are the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) industry’s biggest names, FanDuel and DraftKings. During the address Perskie laid bare the argument by citing a report he had provided, “The fantasy sports contests described in this report are neither ‘gambling’ activities nor games of chance. Rather, they are contests in which the relative skill of the participants predominates to a degree that chance plays no material role in determining the outcome of the activities. Accordingly, these fantasy sports contests are not prohibited by the provision against gambling in the New Jersey Constitution, and are therefore within the authority of the New Jersey Legislature to authorize and regulate.”

The bill received unanimous support from the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee with 7-0 voting in favor of the proposed bill. Dubbed A3532, the bill would provide that the state may collect between 9.25% and 10% on DFS gross gaming revenues. The bill was sponsored by Reps. Vincent Mazzeo, Ralph Caputo, John Burzichelli, and Thomas Giblin.

Florida

Similar to the situation in New Jersey, Florida legislators heard from Senator Dana Young, who presented a bill that shoulders up to already introduced legislation from Senator Bill Glavano on the regulation of Daily Fantasy Sports betting. Senator Jason Brodeur has also introduced his own legislation on the matter, making for a substantial amount of Fantasy Sports material for the State Assembly to mull over in the coming months.

New Hampshire

House Bill 562 was introduced this week in New Hampshire and, in a departure from the typical legalized gambling legislation, it seeks to decriminalize online gambling, rather than regulate or tax it. The legislation was delivered to the state Ways and Means Committee.

Sponsors Eric Schleien, Nick Zaricki and Robert Fisher gave the bill their backing, the language of which is in no way ambiguous in asserting that the New Hampshire Department of Justice, “has neither investigated nor prosecuted online gaming offenses and therefore does not expect this bill to have any impact on expenditures.”

The text of the bill includes:

“This bill exempts gambling done over the Internet from gambling offenses under RSA 647. The Department of Justice to date has neither investigated nor prosecuted online gaming offenses and therefore does not expect this bill to have any impact on expenditures.

To the extent this bill legalizes a form of gambling, it may have an indeterminable impact on lottery and charitable gaming revenue. Lottery and charitable gaming revenue is credited to the lottery fund, with net revenues after Lottery Commission expenditures being credited to the state education trust fund.”

While the benefit to the state remains unclear, in the language of the bill, its approach is a far cry from what other states have attempted in getting gambling legalized within their borders.