NEW YORK STATE POKER REGULATIONS

The US is regulating poker state by state. The next one to follow is the state of New York. The purpose of this bill is to give the New York State Gaming Commission the means to license certain companies to provide certain online poker varieties. In particular online poker varieties, that require skill to play, such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

The new bill states that at this moment a lot of New York resident partake in unlicensed, and therefore unsafe, online poker games. The bill continues to state that it will allow the Gaming Commission to license poker rooms that will meet the high standards that are mentioned in the Bill to offer poker games that require high levels of skill. The bill also contains numerous rules and guidelines that operators have to follow in regard to responsible gambling.

To provide you with an overview of the Bill, please see the list below:

• The state would offer up to 10 licenses for interactive gaming;
• Each license would cost $10 million and be good for ten years;
• Operators would have to pay 15% tax on their “interactive gaming gross revenue”;
• Anyone that operated in the U.S. after Dec. 21, 2006, like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, will not be ineligible for a license;
• Certain standards must be enacted to protect against underage gaming, fraud and compulsive gambling;
• Regulations would be due 180 days after passage of a bill. Consequently, licenses would not be issued for at least 180 days after that; and
• The bill allows for interstate compacts.

We are quite curious how this bill will influence the online poker environment of the state of New York. You can be sure that it will have an effect. As you might recall, the Americans are no pussies when it comes to enforcing their online gambling regulations. This was made very clear by the $50.000.000 fine that was giving to the founder and CEO of PokerStars.

We will be sure to keep you up to date on the impact of this bill.