Mississippi and Washington miss out on online poker
Bills seeking to regulate online poker will not be passed in Mississippi or Washington State in the next legislative session.
Mississippi state representative Bobby Moak introduced a third online gambling bill in four years last month, but has failed to gain support for the Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act, which did not clear Tuesday’s deadline for legislation to be considered this year.
Moak admitted that he felt the bill had little chance of making progress but still hopes to push for online gambling legislation.
“My Republican colleagues have not been moving very much at all concerning gaming,” he told PokerNews.
“They haven’t looked at doing any of the incentives that some other businesses get, and we’ve got to create some opportunities to help the bottom lines for gaming houses.”
“We all know the numbers weren’t as huge as some people thought they would be, but my position on internet gaming is just to give the industry options it needs in this changing market.”
Meanwhile, Washington’s online poker bill, filed by state representative Sherry Appleton, will also not come to fruition in 2015.
Participating in online poker in Washington was made a felony in 2006 and Appleton confirmed last week that her bill has not gained the relevant support to be considered.
Online gambling is currently legal in three US states: New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware.
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