{"id":50087,"date":"2017-05-10T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T19:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=50087"},"modified":"2017-05-10T12:46:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T19:46:11","slug":"new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Online Poker Bill Clears Senate Finance Committee, But Tougher Tests Await"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York State\u2019s online poker bill sailed through the Senate Finance Committee\u00a0on Tuesday and now heads to the Senate floor for debate, and ultimately, we hope, a vote.<\/p>\n

\"New
Senator John Bonacic\u2019s online poker bill would legalize hold\u2019em and omaha, specifically, but it still has a long and perilous journey to Governor Cuomo\u2019s desk. (Image: Mike Groll\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senator John Bonacic\u2019s (R-42nd) bill, S 3898, would legalize online poker as a game of skill, or specifically hold\u2019em and omaha, which are deemed by the senator, apparently, to be the most skillful variants.<\/p>\n

While that point may be ripe for debate, there was no pre-vote discussion at the committee on Tuesday, whose members approved the bill by 27-9.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While encouraging news for New York<\/a> poker players who believe it is their birthright to remotely check-raise the living hell out of one another, the bill\u2019s approval here should come as little surprise. It\u2019s the Assembly we have to worry about.<\/p>\n

Last year, S3898\u2019s predecessor was approved emphatically in a full Senate vote, by a 53-5 margin, and there\u2019s no reason to believe that Bonacic can\u2019t secure similar support for an almost identical bill this year.<\/p>\n

\n

In the Assembly, though, it was a different story. It came unstuck miserably in the lower house; in fact, it wasn\u2019t even debated, with its sponsor Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D-89th) at one point wondering out loud whether poker was a game of skill at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Eyebrows were raised and Bonacic declared himself to be \u201cconfused\u201d by Pretlow\u2019s misgivings.<\/p>\n

This year, though, having schlepped across the Hudson for a fact-finding mission in New Jersey, Pretlow has had his concerns laid to rest by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and has declared himself to be fully behind the bill this year.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it will need to work its way through three Assembly committees before it can go for a vote on the floor, which suggests the odds may be stacked against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some individuals within the administration that are really opposed to this,\u201d Pretlow announced ominously in February, although he also said he believes he can build the support to get it through.<\/p>\n

Tribal Opposition <\/b><\/h2>\n

Online poker\u2019s chances may have been hindered over the past few years by the fact that the state has legalized commercial casino gaming.<\/p>\n

The mood was that there would be no new gambling expansion at least until the new casinos were up and running. Now that they largely are, online poker\u2019s odds may have improved.<\/p>\n

It will, however, likely face opposition from the state\u2019s tribal casino and the lawmakers who represent them. As the language of the bill stands, it would not limit online poker licensees to land-based casino operators and their partners.<\/p>\n

This is the case in the states that have regulated online gambling elsewhere. Instead, any existing gambling licensees would qualify, such as video lottery gaming operators, for example.<\/p>\n

Tribal operators, already unhappy about the new commercial casinos, will not be pleased.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York State\u2019s online poker bill sailed through the Senate Finance Committee\u00a0on Tuesday and now heads to the Senate floor for debate, and ultimately, we hope, a vote. Senator John Bonacic\u2019s (R-42nd) bill, S 3898, would legalize online poker as a game of skill, or specifically hold\u2019em and omaha, which are deemed by the senator, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":50088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew York Online Poker Bill Clears Senate Finance Committee But Tougher Tests Await<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Bonacic\u2019s New York online poker bill is getting some love in the Senate but all eyes will be on the Assembly this year.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Online Poker Bill Clears Senate Finance Committee But Tougher Tests Await\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Bonacic\u2019s New York online poker bill is getting some love in the Senate but all eyes will be on the Assembly this year.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-10T19:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-10T19:46:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/static.politico.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/\",\"name\":\"New York Online Poker Bill Clears Senate Finance Committee But Tougher Tests Await\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/static.politico.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-10T19:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-10T19:46:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"John Bonacic\u2019s New York online poker bill is getting some love in the Senate but all eyes will be on the Assembly this year.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-york-online-poker-bill-clears-senate-finance-committee-but-tougher-tests-await\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/static.politico.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/static.politico.jpg\",\"width\":1160,\"height\":629,\"caption\":\"Senator John Bonacic\u2019s online poker bill would legalize hold\u2019em and omaha, specifically, but it still has a long and perilous journey to Governor Cuomo\u2019s in-tray. 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