New York is now a step closer to regulating online poker after a bill got favorable vote by the state’s Senate yesterday. Namely, the Senate Finance Committee voted in favor of the bill S5302 presented by Sen. John Bonacic to regulate virtual poker in New York. The only one that opposed the bill was Sen. Liz Kruger who said that there should be more public hearings on the subject.
Even though the approval might mean that the bill would likely get a full vote by the Senate, hopes are not high that the bill will pass. New York’s Assembly’s membership are not very enthusiastic about the idea to regulate online poker and their next meeting is scheduled on June 16, 2016. This means that many hurdles must be cleared and there isn’t much time left before the subject will be discussed again.
Legislators in the state are also considering whether or not to put daily fantasy sports on the list of approved gambling options. So far it appears that daily fantasy sports have higher chances of being approved rather than online poker, but nothing is certain at this point.
The approval of the online poker bill by the state’s Senate was gladly welcomed by the MGM Resorts. A spokesperson on behalf of the company said that they are glad that the Committee wants to create safe, secure and legal environment for online poker. MGM Resorts has recently become the sole owner of Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel and Casino after Boyd Gaming had sold their 50% share to MGM for approximately $900 million.
