Best Contenders for Legalized Online Poker in 2018

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Monday, December 18th, 2017 | Written by Shane Larson

In 2013, New Jersey joined Delaware and Nevada in launching its own state regulated online gambling industry, with experts at the time believing that other states would soon follow suit. While many states subsequently considered legalizing online poker and gaming, it wasn’t until late 2017 that Pennsylvania finally succeeded in becoming the fourth state to actually do so.

Needless to say, the spread of legal online poker in the US has proved a significantly slower and more arduous process than many had initially imagined. California, for instance, has failed to legalize online poker despite ten years of trying, while numerous other states have introduced combined online poker and casino game bills rather than having to solely rely on the income generated by just online poker.

Disappointing online poker revenues up until now, however, have offered these states little incentive to push forward with legislative efforts. This year has proved to be somewhat of a golden one for the industry, though, as New Jersey’s online and offline gambling market really took off, and produced consistent impressive year-over-year growth each month.

While its true that the issue of online gambling raises a number of moral and social questions that have impeded the progress of legislation going forward, more lawmakers are beginning to see the light and learn about the industry thanks to the incredible test case example presented by New Jersey. With all that said, here are the states we expect to be most likely to legalize online poker in 2018.

Michigan

Michigan was considered something of an underdog until it became a top contender for online poker legislation around a year ago. A major reason for the optimism is that after spending the past two years gathering support for his bills, Senator Mike Kowall has managed to address some of the concerns presented by tribes in the state, and is currently working with them to find an acceptable compromise in order to move matters forward.

At the same time, State Representative Brandt Iden introduced his bill, HB.4926, in 2017 and it is presently awaiting discussions in a committee meeting. Admittedly, Iden is likely to face the same type of problems as Kowall and his efforts may not bear fruit, but at least the framework is in place for a good start to 2018.

New York

New York has long been a candidate for online poker legislation, but unfortunately it keeps running into problems courtesy of State Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow. While he has sponsored bills in past years, he has also backtracked on the issue on a number of occasions. More recently, he has expressed concern over the disappointing revenues generated by the state’s newest land-based casinos, which is now causing him to doubt some of the optimistic future predictions for a potential regulated online gambling market in New York.

State Senator John Bonacic, on the other hand, has been a consistent and strong supporter of online gambling, and in 2016 and 2017 managed to pass his bills in the Senate. Nevertheless, Bonacic needs to find another legislator to advance an online poker bill in the Assembly before the state is able to pass a law. Providing an extra incentive is the fact that its struggling land-based casinos are likely to support an online gambling push in order to boost their own revenues.

Illinois

Surprisingly Illinois came close to legalizing online gambling in 2017, with the Illinois Senate passing bill S.208 in May, which seeks to legalize and regulate online casino games and daily fantasy sports. Nevertheless, the companion bill for the House, H.479, never materialized and got stuck in committee, and although the bill did come up during the October veto session, it was later halted there too.

More encouragingly, the bill is still open and will move into the next session beginning in January, meaning that there is no need to introduce more bills. Talks may also continue behind the scenes over the next few months, with the committee able to schedule new hearings in early 2018. Given the bill’s sponsor, Representative Michael Zalewksi, is optimistic about Illinois introducing a comprehensive gambling expansion bill in 2018, this is definitely a state to watch out for next year.

New Hampshire

With the success of New Hampshire‘s online lottery, and the legalization of online gambling in neighboring New Jersey, and soon to be Pennsylvania, the state is likely to seriously consider legislation in 2018. Efforts did get underway in 2017, but with limited progress having been made on the issue. If the three representatives sponsoring H.526 push hard enough in 2018, though, they may have another golden chance to debate and consider the bill early in year.

West Virginia

Several delegates from West Virginia have expressed their support for online gambling, and subsequently sponsored H.3067 during March. The bill would authorize online gaming through partnerships with the racetracks in the state, but unfortunately did not gather the amount of support needed. Delegate Shaun Fluharty, who originally sponsored H.3067, then continued the push and found some support from the director for the West Virginia Lottery Commission. In addition, after bills were passed in Pennsylvania in October, Fluharty campaigned tirelessly on social media for his state to follow suit.

This didn’t happen in 2017, but there is a good chance that Fluharty will gather the necessary support needed during the legislative break in winter and attempt to pass the bill in early 2018. In the past, he has expressed his goal of wanting to compete alongside other states on the East Coast, with the Delegate aware of all the many benefits West Virginia stands to reap should legislative efforts ultimately succeed.