Poker Legislation in Massachusetts And Kentucky
Written by Matt W | Thursday, February 12th, 2009
Two states, Massachusetts and Kentucky, are moving in opposite directions as far as their stand on online poker is concerned. Massachusetts is removing provisions that would make online poker illegal from a bill that is under discussion, whereas Kentucky is moving full steam ahead in its appeal in the domain name case.
The Massachusetts bill, called HR 3954, is titled “Act Establishing and Regulating Resort Casinos in the Commonwealth”. It was introduced by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007 with the objective to stpo the flow of state money to the gambling resorts in Atlantic City and Connecticut. The bill called for the creation of gambling resorts in Massachusetts so that the state’s money remains within the state. But this bill simultaneously called for the criminalization of online poker. The idea was that the states proposed casino resorts would not have competition from online gaming. The penalties imposed on persons caught gambling online were a fine of up to $25,000 and/or two years in prison. There was stiff opposition to these clauses on online poker and the bill was forced into a limbo.
Last week two Democratic representatives, Brian Wallace and Martin Walsh, reintroduced the bill. The clauses calling for the criminalization of online poker were still in it. It was then that the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) got into the act. John Pappas, the Executive Director of the PPA, said, “Through the grassroots efforts of our membership in Massachusetts, the legislature discovered the statements regarding the criminalization of online poker. Within eight hours, the representatives either e-mailed or called people who spoke up about it and said they would not be putting the legislation through with that language still in the bill.”
It now seems that the legislators are seeking to remove the offending clauses and move the bill forward. Wallace, on his part, claims that it was never the intent to have those clauses in the bill this time. They were inadvertently added during the process of putting the 49 page document together.
Meanwhile in Kentucky the attorneys of the state are proceeding with the appeal against the order of the Appellate Court. They have filed a Motion for Leave to File Brief Exceeding Page Limitations. Stripped of legalese this means that they need to use more than the 50 pages allowed in the complaint as per court rules. Joe Brennan, Jr. Chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association reacted to this request. He said that the law allowed them to make this request but it is the quality of the arguments that count and not the volume.
Brennan said. “So far, their argument has boiled down to a domain is a gambling device, and these are very bad people who have no right to be represented in court.” He felt that 50 pages were more than enough to say that.
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
