New York Online Poker Still A No-Go In Budget; Attention Turns To Standalone Bills

But that does not mean online poker legislation is dead for 2017.

The latest on New York online poker

The Senate had included online poker in its version of the state budget. But it had not appeared in the Assembly version.

Just last week, Assemblymember J. Gary Pretlow told Online Poker Report that online poker was not likely to make the cut in the final joint legislative budget.

With the budget due tomorrow, that reality persists, according to NY political reporter Andrew Whitman:

Budget deadline is tomorrow. @JGPretlow will push his legalization bill after the budget, so movement could come in the next few weeks

— Andrew Whitman (@WhitmanAndrew) March 30, 2017

Online poker faced the same dynamic last year, as the Senate included online poker in its budget, while the Assembly did not.

What’s next for the online poker bill?

With the avenue via the state budget apparently shut down, attention turns to movement on standalone bills for online poker. Senate famously passed the poker bill 53-5 in 2016; it never saw a vote in the Assembly.

Pretlow told OPR earlier that he would like to get it done this year, but that he still faces some opposition to iPoker legalization and regulation in his own chamber.

According to the tweet form Whitman above, movement on the bill could happen sooner rather later. That would come in the form of committee hearings to get the bill to the full chambers.

No one said it was going to be easy for online gambling

While optimism abounded for the prospects for another state legalizing online gambling this year, passing a bill is never easy.

The roll call of states looking at iGaming is not that positive:

• Things have become complicated in Pennsylvania, as a bill to legalize video gaming terminals outside of casinos threatens to put iGaming on the sidelines.
• Online poker is not being talked about in California.
• Legislation in West Virginia will likely have to wait.
• Michigan has made progress this year, but a bill’s prospects moving forward are murky.

Right now, New York might have the clearest path to legalization of online poker.