New York online poker issue resurfaces

mblyman Gary Pretlow is making another attempt to legalise online poker in New York.

Pretlow has introduced A9049 and reintroduced S5302, a senate version of the bill.

It is not the first time Pretlow has introduced an online poker bill, after attempting to push the issue forward in 2014.

A striking difference to this year’s bill from its 2014 equivalent is that it does not include a “bad actor” clause that would ban companies that continued operating in the US after online gambling was federally banned in 2006.

The bill would allow for up to 10 online poker operators to gain licences, with the licence fee being $10m and the tax rate being 15% of gross gaming revenue.

The terms of the bill would also allow the state to enter into an agreement to share liquidity with other states.

Three US states currently allow online gambling, with Nevada being the only one of those three states that only allows for online poker and Nevada entered a soft-launch phase of sharing online poker player pools with Delaware last March.

State Senator John Bonacic introduced an online poker bill in each of the last two years, with the 2015 attempt also not containing a “bad actor” clause.

The senate held an informational hearing on the issue last year and the next step for the new bill would be for a hearing to be held by the Assembly Committee on Racing and Wagering, which Pretlow chairs.