Online Poker Bill Introduced to New York Senate

A new bill has been introduced to the New York Senate. The bill aims to regulate online poker within the state. It was introduced by State Sen. John Bonacic and arrived just a few days after Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced a federal bill backed by Sheldon Adelson which seeks to ban nearly all forms of online gambling.

A bill which would regulate online poker in New York has been introduced to the senate by Sen. John Bonacic.
Operators would have to pay a license fee of $10 million and pay 15% of gross gaming revenue as tax.
However, the bill wouldn’t allow any operators that took bets after the UIGEA came into force.
It claims that this would “create unfair competition” with “licensees that respected federal and state law.”
The Executive Director of the Poker Player’s Alliance, John Pappas, believes that a legislative move on online poker has been coming in New York for some time. He said, that last year he met with “legislative leaders in New York and they expressed a deep interest in regulating online poker. The state leaders are looking around, and they do not want to be left behind.”