California lawmakers will mull several state bills that could affect both land and online gambling efforts this year (Image: Michael Macor, The Chronicle)
A brand new California gambling bill approved week that is last the State Senate could up taxes and review regulatory procedures on the Golden State’s ever-expanding gaming industry. Introduced by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), SB 601 will go under the microscope of the gaming policy advisory committee comprised of both industry executives and members of the public, with all the goal of determining perhaps the current regulatory structures that are in place are aiding or abetting California’s current and future outlook that is economic.
Regulatory Review
Furthermore, the panel will review the effect of hawaii’s numerous card groups on both state and tax that is local, aswell as on charges to both. Yee stated he could be checking out the possibility that more gaming that is non-Indian could help boost California’s ever-struggling coffers to become fuller.
‘Despite the good news we’ve seen in budget projections, I think it’s always worth taking a look at new revenue sources for our state,’ noted Yee. Once the committee review is complete, the bill that is new move on to your state Assembly for further assessment.
Needless to say, as Newton so sensibly noted, for every single action there is a similar and reaction that is equal and nowhere does that hold truer than worldwide of gambling legislation. No sooner had been SB 601 delivered to light than the Ca Coalition Against Gambling Expansion (CCAGE) popped up, declaring that the new bill ended up being nothing more however a gateway drug for loosening regulatory procedures for operators.
‘SB 601 should be amended to require a balanced consider the laws and regulations governing gambling, including not only their impeding influence on the industry, however the social and economic expenses inevitably related to gambling expansion among California families and communities — e.g., increased debts, foreclosures and bankruptcies, divorces, suicides, etc.,’ stated CCAGE in a letter to legislators in regards to the bill.
Many Viewpoints, Little Agreement
Of program, Ca has a myriad of factions and viewpoints regarding gambling, therefore SB 601 is hardly the only legislation on the table in this arena right now. Also under review are SB 678 introduced by Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) also known as the ‘Authorization and Regulation of online Poker and Consumer Protection Act of 2013,’ a bill aimed at legalizing on-line poker only, which has the support of eight Indian tribes.
Then there is SB 51 the ‘Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2013’ introduced by Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood). Of course, having been found accountable on eight counts of perjury and voter fraud last week, Wright may have more to worry about than gambling legislation right now.
With 38 million residents to draw from, Ca holds by far the most promise of any U.S. state in order to make a lot of money from online gambling. In fact, a present study conducted jointly by the marketplace research firm PokerScout along side consulting firm Academicon revealed the Golden State has a $263 million revenue potential for its first year of iGaming, should it choose to legalize it, and a $384 million possibility for year 10. That being said, other states such as Delaware have became pretty far off in their projections that are initial far, but with California’s huge populace base, there’s a lot more prospective for hitting the mark or close to it in these projections.
Steve Wynn Joins Sheldon Adelson in Anti-Online Gambling Stance
Who woulda thunk it? Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn are now aligned in their anti-online gambling viewpoints (Image: msn.com)
They say politics makes for strange bedfellows, plus the same could be said for the casino industry. Of course, the lines between politics and gambling industry regulatory policy can get pretty blurry, and sometimes it’s hard to discern one from the other, and such is the case with all the brand new professional love affair between longtime anti-online gambling crusader Sheldon Adelson, and his new bestie and ally, Steve Wynn.
Macau Is Their Relationship
Maybe their mutual success in Macau has created a bond that is new the two casino magnates; whatever it really is, Adelson and Wynn truly two of the most established visionaries in the gambling industry have also become aligned in an area where Adelson has found few company compadres to join him: his vehement fight against what he claims are the inherent evils of on line gambling in America.
Steve Wynn now says he concurs because of the vegas Sands CEO that Web video gaming could be the apocalypse for underage morality within the U.S. if it gets a unilateral federal pass.
‘I find yourself agreeing with Sheldon,’ said Wynn recently.
This will be a serious turnaround from the Steve Wynn who once predicted that Sheldon Adelson would eventually heat up to the idea of online gaming. Au contraire; it appears that it’s Wynn who has now seen ‘the light’ when it comes down to the Internet’s potentially corrupting influence via online gambling.
Visions of Underage Online Gamblers
Wynn now relates to your government that is federal ‘insatiable appetite for revenue,’ and foresees we are uncertain why exactly the risk of underage gamblers by the truckload sneaking through the regulatory checkpoints and also this creating some kind of American backlash towards gambling as a whole. Considering that there have actually certainly been incidents of underage gamblers getting into land casinos beneath the radar at various points in time and the casinos usually get caught and fined for it without Joel Osteen creating a Sunday pulpit commentary in the subject or pickets going up on the Las Vegas Strip this seems a bit dramatic to us; but that is Wynn’s tale and he is sticking to it.
‘This is not a good entrepreneurial possibility,’ keeps Wynn. ‘ Where is the business opportunity? The big problem I see is I don’t see the government letting us keep the cash.’
Again, we are not yes what proof he has that 13-year-olds by the boatloads will be crashing online gaming web sites, but this appears to be Wynn’s primary focus and concern. He states that after viewing the latest software that is technological sites run by UltimateGaming et al to theoretically block underage players, he is not really convinced they are sophisticated enough to keep kids a bay. Despite the IT teams telling him the sites are inaccessible to young ones, Wynn’s reaction was, ‘I’m sure it had been impressive if you were a cyber man. But it was bullsh—.’
Wynn now seems to be on board with Adelson’s contention that young teens will learn how to get online and gamble away all their own or their parents’ savings. We’re not sure how sophisticated your combo of con and high-tech penetration skills might have become to pull that off; and while it’s without doubt a potential situation, so has been hit by a car or truck whenever we drive, but that doesn’t keep us from getting behind the wheel every time. Establishing policy centered on worst-case scenarios seems like a tactic that is odd us, but just what do we know; we’re not billionaires with effective land casinos within the U.S. and Macau, are we?
As for Wynn, it is a definite maybe in his viewpoints on this for now, anyway. And besides his concerns about underage issues, he is not sure he would like to try to transfer his upscale casino image up to a computer screen, and even how that might be doable.
‘ I do not know how to do that on a screen that is 17-inch’ he stated.
‘It’s possible it may alter,’ Wynn included, regarding his views on Internet gambling. But he doesn’t think anyone’s opinion will change Congress’s deer-in-headlight stance on Internet gambling, irrespective.
‘[Legal gambling passage] can’t cope with the House of Representatives,’ he revealed. ‘They can not acknowledge anything, especially one thing this esoteric.’
2014 Florida session that is legislative Away from Gambling Expansion
The 2014 Florida legislative session now seems to be shying away from any focus on gambling although it looked hopeful last year.
Within the year that is last there’s been plenty of talk about changing the gambling rules that dictate how gaming is run in Florida. There were calls to expand the state’s casino offerings, along with lots of help for reforming the regulations that are current remove loopholes and clarify what exactly is appropriate for operators to offer. But despite all of the essential issues on the table as well as though the year is in its incipiency it seems that the odds of any gambling laws passing in Florida in 2014 are getting longer every day.
Republican Retreat
That news comes after Republican legislative leaders had pledged to really make the issue a priority year that is late last. Gambling was for a list of legislative priorities that lawmakers presented to reporters ahead of the session that is present, but whom now say it’s not likely such a thing will take place before some big steps take place.
House Speaker Will Weatherford said that his chamber would not work without the legislation to arrive concert by having a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to weigh in on aristocrat indian dreaming slot machine download any feasible gambling expansion.
‘I don’t think you’ll see us taking up gaming in the House,’ the Speaker said unless we can do that. For Weatherford, that statement covered ‘anything new,’ presumably including regulatory changes, along with the addition of new casinos.
Legal actions Add to Delays
The prospect of legislation may have been hampered by the nearly two dozen lawsuits currently dealing with the continuing state after studies and hearings were held to review their state’s video gaming rules.
Those lawsuits cover many different issues, including regulations on horse and dog racing where battles over how events are conducted and whether tracks can host slots and other casino games have already been raging for many time now.
‘There’s regulations. There’s dogs. There’s integrated resorts. There’s taxes. There’s slots. There is the compact. There’s decoupling. There is injury reporting. Invest the all those pieces associated with the puzzle, they are doingn’t snap together that easily,’ said Senate Gaming Committee Chairman Garrett Richter.
That compact could fundamentally turn out to be the biggest issue on the table. Florida’s compact with the Seminole Tribe expires in 2015, and that deadline will eventually make video gaming come up on the legislative agenda whether lawmakers are ready for this or not. The compact allows the Seminole Tribe to have exclusive rights to banked card games like blackjack throughout the state in exchange for $1 billion in payments from the tribe over the course of five years at the moment. Renewing or proposing modifications compared to that compact is a issue that is contentious especially if Florida thinks it will make more by eliminating the exclusivity and allowing non-Indian casino designers to create within the state.
‘Gaming can be an issue that is forced towards the state either this year or next year by the Seminole compact is up for many renegotiation and whenever you do this you type of touch the dominos which make anything else impacted,’ said Senate President Don Gaetz. ‘ I do not believe that expansion of gaming or gaming legislation would have been a Will Weatherford or a Don Gaetz priority.
‘It’s maybe not something we necessarily want to be taking part in,’ Gaetz said, ‘but it’s a thing that circumstances probably require either us or our successors to do something about.’