Last week, New York Assemblymember Gary Pretlow described the chance of an online poker bill’s chances as slim. Now, Pretlow says he does not see the New York gamling bill passing at all this calendar year.
Pretlow made his comment after seeing to the passage of a House Bill on online gambling through his Racing, Wagering, and Gaming Committee on Friday. To make it to a floor vote in the House, the bill has to pass through three more committees: the Rules Committee, Codes Committee, and Ways and Means Committee.
With the legislative session set to end on June 21, the bill needed to pass through all three committees by the end of Monday. When the day’s legislative session ended, the necessary obstacles had not been bypassed.
Last-Minute, Late-Night Online Poker Vote
That would have set up an end-of-session, late-night vote on the 21st of June. Gary Pretlow is a veteran lawmaker, so he spoke from experience about bill clearing those legislative hurdles in a short time frame.
John Bonacic and an Omnibus Bill
State Sen. John Bonacic, who sponsored the companion bill in the New York Senate earlier this week, hinted at a similar outcome. Bonacic discussed the possibility of the online poker bill being rolled into a last-minute omnibus bill, which collects a bunch of proposals in one catch-all package. Bonacic said the New York State Legislature has a thousands of bills to consider, so any last-minute laws often are added to the omnibus bill.
New York Online Poker Bad Actor Clauses
Like the California online poker bills these past few years, the “bad actor” clauses might be the main stumbling block. Pretlow said, “I believe they have some issues that may not be resolved by the middle of next week. I’ve heard they have some constitutional issues and disagreements over the penalties. Some people say we don’t have strong enough penalties for bad actor, while some people say the penalties are too strong.”
The Assemblyman from the 89th District (Westchester) said he is against bad actor clauses, because it singles out one company. Gary Pretlow said lobbying efforts by MGM Resorts on behalf of the bad actor provisions had convinced a number of lamwakers, though.
What Is a Bad Actor in Poker Terms?
“Bad actor” clauses ban companies which accepted American real money gamblers after the enaction of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, because those companies profited by circumventing U.S. federal law — and encouraged American bettors to do the same.
Such stipulations are designed to keep PokerStars, which controls about 70% of the online poker action, from entering the New York poker market. PokerStars’ entry, presumably in partnership with one single New York State brick-and-mortar casino company, would give that one competitor an unnatural advantage over the rest of the license holders.
Pretlow Describes How the iPoker Bill Might Pass
Despite such controversies, Pretlow noted that he has steered bill through in such a small a compacted time frame before, but there were no guarantees in such a situation. Touting himself before Monday’s session, Pretlow said, “I’ve been known to work miracles at times. I had the same situation with daily fantasy sports, and we got that done on the last day in almost the exact same situation.”
The sponsors in both houses have suggested paths to passage, Pretlow discussed an impasse between the House and Senate over “mayoral control of schools in New York cities”, which is hampering efforts at cooperation.
Speculating on the best way it could be added to the legislative calendar, Assemblyman Pretlow said, “If it could somehow get tied up in the negotiation for that, it’ll have a chance.”
Pretlow Says 2018 Is a Definite Maybe
While the 2017 remains, Gary Pretlow noted late Monday that the New York online poker bill is not likely to pass in the 2017 legislative session, but hinted at success on a later date. The Assemblyman said he hopes that the bill has better luck in 2018, but there simply is not time for lawmakers to pass the proper legislation this year.
There seems to be a pattern forming with John Bonacic and Gary Pretlow. Sen. Bonacic is able to carry the measure in the New York Senate, while Pretlow’s attempts to pass a similar proposal in the New York General Assembly goes down to the wire, only to meet with failure. At least this time, Assemblyman Pretlow did not withdraw his support at the last minute. Whether the 2018 online poker bill is going to have any better luck is anyone’s guess.
