After almost 30 years in the political realm, New York State Senator John Bonacic has decided to not run for another term in Albany. Bonacic is the major driver behind the regulation of online poker in the state of New York, which faces an uncertain future if the Senator goes through with his decision.
“I have decided that I will not seek re-election to the New York State Senate,” Bonacic said in a statement released late last week. “Next to being called Pat’s husband and Melissa and Scott’s father and a grandfather to three more, serving in the State Senate has been the honor of my life.” Bonacic is a Republican representative to the New York Senate, representing the 42nd District (including parts of Delaware, Sullivan, Orange and Ulster Counties), which he has represented since 2003.
Bonacic is most noted in poker circles for his continued efforts regarding gaming and casino bills, especially those with getting online poker and casino regulations passed in the Empire State. Back in 2014, Bonacic began his crusade for online gaming by introducing a bill in the New York Senate. That bill, even admitted by Bonacic at the time, was simply to get some discussion going regarding the subject. A similar bill was put in during the 2015 legislative session, but it also was more of an effort at pushing discussion in the Statehouse.
2016 saw the fruits of Bonacic’s labor begin to pay off. A Senate subcommittee that year voted unanimously in favor of the bill and moved it forward out of the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate, taking the bill known then as S 5302 under consideration, voted in favor of the bill. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a companion bill in the New York Assembly at that time and the bill died.
In 2017, the Senate once again gave its consideration and passage to Bonacic’s efforts. It was unanimously sent out of committee and passed the full Senate by a 54-8 margin. Furthermore, the state’s budget discussions began to consider the revenues that Bonacic’s bill would produce, critical in the discussions regarding passing such a bill. It was the Assembly again that scuttled the efforts, with Assemblyman Gary Pretlow saying at the time he “didn’t have the votes” for passage and pulling his companion bill from consideration.
It is now on Pretlow and another Assemblyman, Clyde Vanel, to carry the water for online gaming and/or poker in the New York Statehouse. While Bonacic had great support in the Senate for his bill, there hasn’t been any indication that another Senator will come to pick up Bonacic’s advocacy. This puts the future of online poker regulation in the state of New York in question, especially if Bonacic can’t get it to Governor Andrew Cuomo before his term ends.
Bonacic’s career has been one that presents some contradictions, with the Senator taking stances on subjects that normally Republicans don’t. Although he voted against same-sex marriage in 2009 and voted against New York’s Marriage Equality Act in 2011 (in both cases, the bill passed and became law), Bonacic was a pro-choice member of the Senate, stating that “both my daughter and my bride of 50 years believe in pro-choice and we should never deprive women of access to health care that they choose and their medical providers say is best for them.” He also was a key cog in the passage of the amendment to the state’s Constitution to open to seven casinos in the state; as of now, four of those casinos have opened and more are on the horizon. With this said, he also has said that the current President has the country “moving in the right direction.”
Does Bonacic see a way to get his pet project, online gaming regulation, passed before he departs Albany? In an interview Bonacic stated that he was looking to “push discussion” as one of the members of the Republican Party (the GOP are more than a 2:1 disadvantage in the Assembly, while the Senate is split evenly with one Democrat caucusing with the GOP), but he didn’t name any issue that he wanted to pursue, including that of regulating online gaming. After 30 years in politics, perhaps Bonacic just wants to reach the end of the journey.
