New York will resume poker bills legislative debate in 2018

Two measures still active for legislative consideration later this year could lead to New York becoming the fifth US state to authorize and regulate online poker. The first of the two bills which have now been returned to their respective State Senate and Assembly Committees is the S3898 measure proposed by State Sen. John Bonacic. Bonacic, a Republican from New York’s 42nd Senate District, has introduced an online-poker legalization bill in every legislative session since 2014.

Bill S3898 bill remains active, even though it died in New York’s State Assembly as of the end of 2017, because New York’s state legislature conducts its business in two-year sessions.

However, Sen. Bonacic has succeeded in getting his online-poker bill passed in each of the past two years by not only his originating committee, the Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering, but by the full New York Senate as well. That bodes well for S3898 to be passed again in 2018, perhaps even without any additional amendments; the active version of S3898 is the same version that the Senate approved last June on a lopsided 54-8 vote. That bill would authorize up to 11 online licenses serving New Yorkers, with each licensee assessed a $10 million application and licensing fee, plus GGR (gross gaming revenue) taxed at a workable 15 percent. Players would have to be 21 or older to participate in real-money wagering.

A similar re-birthing awaits the New York Assembly’s most likely vehicle for online-poker legislation, the A5250 measure sponsored by Rep. Gary Pretlow. Pretlow chairs the Assembly’s version of the Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, but he’s been far less successful in moving online-poker legislation in that body. Last year, the A5250 bill languished in Pretlow’s committee — it was passed at one point to a sub-committee for a technical once-over — and never even received a committee vote.

Pretlow has demonstrated both cold feet and a bit of two-facedness when faced with actually moving the bill, despite what appears to be broad support for a measure similar to Bonacic’s Senate version. The New York Assembly likely will be the metaphorical sticky wicket in 2018, regarding online poker’s chances, though last year’s addition of neighboring Pennsylvania to the “approved” list of US states adds a bit more incentive to get the deal done.

However, it is still uncertain whether the legislative agenda's priority will be given to legalizing online poker or sports betting, as New York currently conducts a preliminary investigation into the possible success of neighboring New Jersey’s Supreme Court challenge to the US’s PASPA ban against such activity in most US states. It remains to be seen if New York’s legislators could decide to legalize sports betting force, and again push online-poker legislation onto a back burner under the guise of both topics being “too much gambling expansion, too soon.”