What are the Prospects of US iGaming Passing in 2017?

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Thursday, October 13th, 2016 | Written by Stephen Smith

Well, we are in the last quarter of 2016 and so far no state has joined the ranks of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey as one of the places where online poker is legal. At the end of 2015, industry experts had hopes that at least one other state would legalize iPoker during the following year, but now it seems that it’s time to look ahead to 2017 rather than betting on anything happening in the last couple of months of this year.

Let’s take a look at the status of online poker legislation in the four states where most of the attention is currently focused:

1. Pennsylvania

If there is any chance at all of a state getting iPoker legislation done this year, it is in Pennsylvania, after all the Keystone State’s budget for next year includes revenues from online poker as a source of income, so it’s clear that legislators have every intention of legalizing iGambling. But despite this, it’s unclear when the bill might get a final vote.

In the meantime, a public hearing to discuss internet gambling bill HB 2150 that was due to be held at the beginning of October has now been pushed back until the 18th. While no reasons were given for the postponement, it does at least give its sponsor Representative John Payne more time to work on a positive vote from his Senate colleagues. The Pennsylvania legislative session continues through November, so there is still time for Harrisburg to pull through and get things done before the state adjourns for the year, and as gaming consultant Steve Ruddock tweeted at the end of September:

“If PA pols try to attach tax fix to gaming reform bill and don’t get it done by Oct 26, legislature will likely add session days.”

2. California

California’s efforts to legalize online poker are currently on hold due to a disagreement among the tribal groups that operate casinos in the state. One faction objects to the other faction’s partnership with PokerStars, saying that the site is a bad actor for having operated illegally in the U.S. after the passing of the UIGEA in 2006. With neither side willing to make any concessions, lawmakers are going to have to be more forceful and committed to getting iPoker legislation passed if there will be any hope of a law being able to be voted on in 2016.

Throughout the whole protracted and frustrating experience, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been following developments with great interest, and as the organization’s Executive Director John Pappas commented recently:

“I think Assemblyman Gray deserves a lot of credit for carrying this issue as far as he did.. I’m hoping that this whole episode hasn’t soured him on supporting good policy in the future.. Hopefully the opposing sides can really sit down and hash out the issues to come up with some sort of agreement.”

3. New York

Industry experts seem in agreement that New York will be quick to follow Pennsylvania when the Keystone State finally legalizes online gaming. With neighboring New Jersey and Pennsylvania both allowing legal online gambling, the Empire State will have a high level of motivation to finally get a bill through, instead of allowing it to die as they did this year. There seems to be a general consensus that New York will legalize in 2017, especially if Pennsylvania finishes out 2016 with an iPoker law on the books.

While iPoker is still on hold in New York, the state passed a Daily fantasy sports into law on August 3, 2016, and DraftKings, FanDuel and a number of other DFS sites are now offering their products in NY.

4. Michigan

Michigan isn’t a place where online poker legislation gets much attention, but the state did make some headway this year. In Lansing, a bill made it out of committee but never reached a vote in the State Senate. There is still a lot of work to do in Michigan, but those familiar with politics in the state believe that iGaming legislation will be successful though perhaps not until 2018.

Other Hopeful Candidates

In addition to these four states, industry analysts believe that Massachusetts, Mississippi, West Virginia, Washington State, Illinois and Iowa are all places where iGaming legislation could soon be considered. Ultimately, the chances of any of these states exploring online poker legislation is likely to increase exponentially should one of the big four states already mentioned manage to get an online poker bill passed, and signed into law by their governor.