Key political backers are lining up in New York to make online poker a reality in the state in 2017.
Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, who chairs the Committee on Racing and Wagering in the lower house and is sponsoring a legalization bill in the Assembly, says he’s on board following a trip to New Jersey to observe that state’s $30 million web poker market.
“I had some issues with (online poker) in the past,” he told fios1news.com. “If New Yorkers are going to participate in online poker, I want it to be the fairest it could possibly be.”
That’s a big change from last year when the Assembly refused to consider a bill by pro-poker Senator John Bonacic, which sailed through the upper house by a vote of 53-5. Bonacic’s 2017 bill has already cleared one committee, and he says passage is now a matter of time.
Pretlow agrees. “I don’t really see that there’s going to be much opposition to moving this along,” he said.
If anything, he now attributes the Assembly’s past inaction to a decision to wait for a “sign-off” from the state’s new upstate casinos.
There are currently a little over 100 poker tables in the state spread between tribal and commercial casinos.
“I didn’t want to put competition in there before they even opened their doors,” Pretlow said. Referring to the four new commercial casinos, three of which are now up and running, he added, “They don’t have a problem with the state offering online poker—and the seven racinos are also eligible to be in partnership with organizations that handle online poker.”
That leaves Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose stance on legalization isn’t known. He hasn’t taken a position publicly, but observers say that if the industry and the Legislature are in favor it’s unlikely he will veto whatever measure ultimately crosses his desk.
