If you follow the legislative doings in the online gambling world August was both an exciting and frustrating month.

Late amendments reopened the door for California’s online poker bill, and touched off a contentious debate over which group was most deserving of the title “obstructionist.” But in the end 2016 ended the same as the last 10 in the Golden State, with the legislative deadline to pass bills having come and gone and the state’s online poker bill sitting untouched, once again slamming the door shut on online poker legalization.

But as the saying goes, when one door is closed another door opens, and the opening door was the return of the Pennsylvania Senate, which is now back in session, with an online gambling bill waiting for them. The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives and was included in budget funding; it just needs the Senate to act and the governor to sign it.

Here’s where online gaming efforts stand in these key states and elsewhere across the country as we head into September.

California Online Poker Bill Officially Dead

A last ditch attempt by Assemblyman Adam Gray was unable to move the needle, and California’s efforts to legalize online poker in 2016 are now officially over.

Gray’s gambit saw the Assemblyman radically alter the suitability language in the bill to gain the support of the hardliner Pechanga coalition. By prohibiting PokerStars from applying for a license for a period of at least five years (and perhaps longer based on some readings of the bill) did appease the Pechanga coalition, but it also caused the PokerStars coalition to abandon ship.

Whatever support was gained, it appears an equal amount of support was lost.

The legislature had until August 31 to pass the bill, but AB 2863 suffered the same fate as all of its predecessors. It failed to be brought to the floor of the Assembly for a vote, let alone sent on to the California Senate or the governor’s desk.

Next year will almost certainly see new online poker efforts emerge, but barring a major shakeup or defections from the two entrenched coalitions, it’s hard to see a path forward suddenly presenting itself.

It will also be interesting to see where the jumping off point is for suitability language. Will Gray continue to push for his newly adopted penalty box period for PokerStars, or revert back to his previous, softer stance, whereby PokerStars could avoid the penalty box by paying a one-time fee?

Pennsylvania Senate Returns

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania…

The State Senate is back in session, which has us back on online gaming watch. The House of Representatives is due back in mid-September.

However, it’s unclear how much of a priority the gaming reform bill is in the Senate. The Senate has a number of pressing issues to handle, including replacing the state’s embattled Attorney General (which they did this week), and with the gaming reform bill’s revenue already earmarked for the budget, there’s no pressing need to pass the bill.

As was noted last month, this situation has historical precedent, and we can look back to 2009 when Pennsylvania was considering legalizing table games for a parallel. Table games took a similar path to what we are seeing with the current gaming reform package, as both were added to the state budget as funding sources, before they were passed and signed into law.

Table games weren’t officially legalized until January of the following year (2010), so don’t be surprised, or grow frustrated if the online gaming bill isn’t tackled until after the November elections, and it could even drag into 2017.
Basically, even if the Senate balks at passing the bill in the coming months, online gaming legalization is very much in play in Pennsylvania.

That being said, legislative sources have indicated that if daily fantasy sports is decoupled from online gambling it’s not a good sign for online gambling.

Positive News from Michigan

Even more so than Pennsylvania, Michigan’s online gambling efforts are likely to remain on the shelf until after the November elections.

One positive bit of news that indicates online gaming is still on the table in Michigan comes from Jeanne David. David runs PokerStars responsible gaming department, and was one of the Amaya representatives who spoke at the May 4 hearing in Michigan. According to a recent tweet, she recently took a trip that had to do with legalizing online gaming in Michigan:


Looking ahead to G2E

Next month’s legislative recap will hopefully be able to answer some of the questions posed above. Myself, and several members of the PocketFives Team will be in Las Vegas for Global Gaming Expo 2016, known in industry circles as G2E.

G2E brings together the gaming world, including lawmakers, regulators, industry executives, and tribal leaders. Attending G2E has provided invaluable insight into online gaming efforts in states across the country, and G2E 2016 should be no exception.