Legal Online Poker in the Sunshine State?
It seems like there has been a lot in the news recently dealing with online poker and online gambling and the ongoing debate on whether to legalize it or not. First there was the Kentucky domain name case and then the recent decision by the state of Minnesota to not block online gambling sites to their residents. There is also a recent bill by Robert Frank that will be put to a vote in Congress soon. Now the state of Florida may be the first state in America to legalize online poker.
In Florida the main focus has been on the ratification in the state’s legislature of the gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe, as well as the omnibus gambling reform to aid in the state’s struggling pari-mutual industry. Lawmakers in Florida have quietly put a measure into a regulatory bill that is not related that may make Florida the very first state in the U.S. to make online poker legal for citizens of the Sunshine State.
House bill 425, which was recently passed by legislature in Florida by an impressive margin, has in the bill a provision that requires the policy research arm of the state legislature to perform a thorough study on the effects of online poker on the land based poker rooms in Florida. Representing lobbyists of the American Poker Ventures, LLC, has pushed the recent measure. And requires the legislative policy arm to report by December 1st of this year “regarding the enactment of laws to provide for protection and remedies from existing and unregulated online poker activities.”
American Poker Ventures in a new LLC based in California and its head is Jim Tabilio, who is a political consultant in California. Tabilio lists an impressive list of political clients from all across the United States and he also is the president of Poker Voters of America, which is an American lobbying organization. The main goal of the Poker Voters of America is to protect the rights of poker players in the U.S. by trying to educate elected officials, opinion makers, and the media about the impact of people that play poker of current legislation on the poker issue at both the state and federal levels.
The card and poker rooms that are regulated on the state of Florida may bring about a new start for an attempt to regulate the online poker industry.
To stay abreast of the study and the possible legislation that may happen as a result of the study you can visit: www.floridagamingwatch.com, which is the most comprehensive gaming website dealing with Florida gaming issues.
