Bobby Moak Has Introduced Online Gambling Legislation 3 of the Last 4 Years
The online gambling bills proposed late last month in Mississippi and Washington will not pass in 2015. Both bills failed to be heard by the state lawmakers in each state. This is the third such disappointment in Mississippi, while the lawmakers of Washington had not considered such a law for several years.
While those initiatives failed before they could be fully heard, serious proposals which might gain acceptance have been made in the state of California. A bill in the State Assembly offers a different approach than the proposal which failed in 2014.
Sherry Appleton’s Bill Defeated
In Washington state, Representative Sherry Appleton introduced the “Washington Internet Poker Initiative“, also known as House Bill 1114. The move towards legislation was a true grass-roots campaign, but it failed to get the support it needed to make it to the floor of the House.
The bill might never have had a great chance of succeeding, because it lacked the kind of industry lobbying effort usually associated with successful legislation. None of the major online gambling media sources had predicted Washington would be voting on an iGaming bill, so its appearance in the news had turned heads in the gaming industry.
True Grass-Roots Initiative
A local gaming activist convinced Rep. Appleton to sponsor the bill, but little time was left to prepare members of the legislature to consider such a bill. The proposed law will be shelved for the remainder of 2015.
The state of Washington has one of the harshest sets of anti-online gambling statutes, so it was a bit of a surprise that the legislature was considering such a law in the first place. Still, the Internet gaming community can take heart that the seeds of change might exist in a state previously thought to have a hardline stance against iGaming.
Bobby Moak’s Bill Defeated
Along the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi Lawful Internet Gaming Act of 2015 also could not make it out of the committee phase. State Rep. Bobby Moak had warned observers that the bill did not have a good chance at being accepted.
This marks the third time in four years Moak’s favorite piece of legislation did not reach the gaming floor. He told reporters that he takes heart from these repeated disappointments, believing that this year’s debate might help similar proposals pass in 2016, due to the publicity it received. Mississippi’s gaming industry struggled enough in 2014 that the Grand Tunica Casino was closed down by Caesars Entertainment. If the trend continues, then online gaming revenues might be sought by a state government looking for more revenue sources.
Controversial Inclusions
One reason Bobby Moak’s proposed legislation failed was the controversial provisions involving law enforcement. Though the Poker Players Alliance supports licensed online gambling in Mississippi, the provisions that would punish gamblers who engage in unregulated gaming seem harsh and arbitrary to the PPA.
Players who were caught gambling at the unregulated offshore online casino websites could be punished with a $10,000 fine and up to 90 days in prison. Most online gambling laws punish the gaming operator who facilitates the activity, but does not target taxpayers who engage in betting from inside the privacy of their own home.
PPA Says Penalties are Misguided
Rich Muny, the PPA’s Vice President of Player Relations, said, “I think all player penalties are misguided. Players penalties wrongly shift the target of enforcement efforts from hard-to-reach offshore sites to the players.”
If the PPA can influence Rep. Bobby Moak to change the wording of the law in any subsequent 2016 iGaming proposals, the industry might more fully support the next legislative initiative.
iGaming Legislation in 2015
Now that online betting initiatives have failed in Washington and Mississippi, the state of California appears to be the only chance for the ranks of states with licensed online gambling.
At present, lawmakers are at an impasse in determining whether to allow bad actors to engage in the licensed gaming industry of California. Gaming companies which defied the UIGEA from 2007 to 2011 (such as PokerStars) might be termed “bad actors” and banned from licensing. PokerStars has political and business allies in the state, though, so a bill has not gained enough support either way to pass.
A proposed law by State Assemblyman Mike Gatto could bridge the gap between the two sides. Though Gatto’s law calls for a ban on PokerStars and other bad actors, the legislation leaves the door open for the California Gaming Control Board to reinstate such a company, if it can prove its entering the state’s licensed online gaming community would not harm the industry.
