Senator Bonacic’s Retirement and Future Prospects of NY iPoker Legislation

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Sunday, May 6th, 2018 | Written by Stephen Smith

Senator John Bonacic, a Republican New York State Senator for the past two decades, has announced that he will not seek re-election, and that he would be retiring from his role at the end of the present legislative session. The 75 year-old says he is looking forward to retiring from politics and spending more time with his family, stating:

“The 20 years I have spent in the Senate have been rewarding both personally and professionally, despite the frustrations that all of us experience in any career. Twenty years, though, is enough, and I look forward to spending quality time with my bride, Pat, and my children and grandchildren.”

With the recent news of his retirement, the drive towards legal online poker in The Empire State has become a whole lot more complicated.

Influential Career

Over his influential career, Bonacic served first as an Assemblyman from 1990 to 1998, before being elected to the State Senate for the past twenty years, and also becoming chair of the Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee. From his position of influence, Bonacic has played a huge part in proposing and passing bills to legalize various gambling activities, including being lead sponsor of the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act of 2013, and of the 2013 constitutional amendment, which allowed 7 casino establishments to obtain a license on non-Indian land in New York.

In addition, Bonacic has been a strong supporter of online poker and three years ago introduced S.3898, a senate bill that seeks to legalize online poker in New York. Bonacic has been instrumental in having the piece of legislation pass the Senate for the past two consecutive years, and this session the bill has already passed the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, with Bonacic waiting for its companion bill A.5250 to make progress in the Assembly before pushing it further through the Senate.

Online Poker Drive

Online poker legislation in New York has been toing and froing for many years now, but in recent years a great deal of progress has been made on the issue, in the process bringing the dream of playing poker on the internet a little closer for state residents.

In fact, while the past 3 to 4 years has seen legislation ultimately hit a wall, many analysts believe that 2018 could very well be the year an online poker bill passes in the legislature. In fact, following the carry over policy in New York, the initial bill proposed and amended will be able to bypass the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee and jump straight to the Codes Committee, with strong hopes of it then reaching the floor of the state senate.

One of Senator Bonacic’s arguments for passing the online poker bill is that ultimately it is a game of skill much like daily fantasy sports (DFS), which Bonacic was integral in having passed back in 2016. Daily fantasy sports is a sub-category of ‘Fantasy Sport’, an online game where people choose virtual teams on the internet, that are based on real players of a professional sport. Teams compete based upon performance in actual real-life games and statistics, with points compiled on the back of this.

As the poker debate continues, Bonacic has received support from other politicians, one of of whom is James Gary Pretlow, a member of the NY State Assembly who was first elected in 1992. Despite him being a Democrat and Bonacic a Republican, it’s promising that party politics is put to one side and cross-party agreements can be made. Pretlow is also chairman of the Racing and Wagering committee, so if any bills are to pass, he will play a major part in the decision making.

Likelihood of iPoker Passing

So how likely is the legalization of online poker in New York following Bonacic’s retirement? With promising support continuing to grow gradually over the past 2 years, more people are getting on board with Bonacic’s mindset and way of thinking. This year, for instance, Bonacic helped pass a sports betting bill that would allow New York to take quick advantage of a successful resolution to the PASPA case in the Supreme Court, with the senator stating that New York State should no longer be “behind the curve in dealing with developments in the gaming world.”

The hope for optimists is that Bonacic’s retirement may now spur him on to pushing online poker legislation even harder this session before his departure. Despite any success he may enjoy, however, he will still require Pretlow to follow suit and pass its companion bill in the Assembly to complete the legislative process.

On the flip side, Bonacic may instead be more inclined to concentrate his efforts on more pressing concerns, such as finding and helping to elect a suitable replacement in November, ultimately dealing another blow to New York’s chances of passing online poker legislation in 2018.