New York Online Poker Bill Introduced in State Senate: SB 9226
On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo (D) introduced legislation that would explicitly legalize and regulate online poker within the Empire State. Bill SB 9226 would see the establishment of licensed online poker sites in New York, but it makes no provision for internet casino gaming or any other type of gambling.
More About the Bill
Under the terms of the proposed legislation, the New York State Gaming Commission would be placed in charge of the regulated online poker industry. It would have the power to issue up to 10 licenses each of which would be valid for 10 years.
Each license will cost $10 million, and furthermore, all online poker licensees will have to pay a 15% tax on gross gaming revenue. However, this $10 million fee would be applied against a licensees tax obligations for the first five years of licensure.
New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo (D)Who Can Apply for a License?
Entities eligible to offer internet poker in New York are those that are already licensed to operate Class III gaming facilities. This basically refers to the state's four commercial casinos (Tioga Downs, Del Lago Resort, Rivers Casino, Resorts World Catskills) along with upstate Tribal Casinos, like Turning Stone and Seneca Niagara.
However, the bill also requires that a license applicant must “[have] experience in the operation of interactive poker by being licensed in a state with comparable licensing requirements or guarantees acquisition of adequate business competence and experience in the operation of interactive poker.” Because few, if any, current Class III licensees have anything to do with regulated online poker in any other states, this language seems to pave the way for partnerships between land-based casinos and software/technology providers, similar to the way it's done in several other igaming states.
Under the provisions of the legislation from Senator Addabbo, “A licensee may utilize multiple interactive poker platforms provided that each platform is approved by the commission.” So we could see multiple skins run by the same operator or even completely distinct brands running under a single license but in partnership with different gaming firms.
What Games Would Be Allowed?
The poker variants that would be allowed under the new bill are Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em. Furthermore, “any other poker game that the commission determines is the material equivalent of either of those, whether in a cash game or tournament” would also be permitted.
So the two most popular types of poker are specifically named as being kosher. As far as what other variants might also be included, this would be up to the discretion of the Gaming Commission. It might turn out that games that are similar to Texas Hold'em and Omaha, like Pineapple and Big O, are allowed while more esoteric formats, like Stud and 2-7 Triple Draw, are banned.
There are no provisions in the bill for expanding to online casino territory with the implementation of, for example, blackjack, roulette, slots, or other similar fare. This is because the legislation is explicitly focused on poker as it is a game of skill (see below) rather than chance.
Poker Declared Game of Skill
According to the New York State Constitution, any expansion of gambling requires voter approval at the ballots. However, Senator Addabbo is seeking to classify poker as a game of skill, which would make such a step unnecessary. Looking within the text of SB 9226, we find:
[Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em] are considered to be complex forms of poker which involve player strategy and decision-making and which pit the skill levels of the players against each other. As games of skill, these forms of poker do not fall under the definition of gambling as prohibited by the penal law;
The bill would also change one definition contained in the gambling laws as follows (matter to be removed struck out; matter to be added in bold):
1. "Contest of chance" means any contest, game, gaming scheme or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree predominantly upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may also be a factor therein.
This update to the laws would shift New York to the dominant factor test from the currently used material element test when deciding if an activity is a contest of chance or skill. In practice, this would make it easier to classify certain games – even non-poker pursuits – as contests of skill rather than chance and thus exempt them from being considered gambling.
Interstate Compacts a Possibility
SB 9226 envisions the prospect of New York joining an interstate agreement to combine online poker player pools. Check out this paragraph from the bill:
10. The Commission, by regulation, may authorize and promulgate any rules necessary to implement agreements with other states, or authorized agencies thereof (a) to enable patrons in those states to participate in interactive poker offered by licensees under this article or (b) to enable patrons in this state to participate in interactive poker offered by licensees under the laws of those other states, provided that such other state or authorized agency applies suitability standards and review materially consistent with the provisions of this article.
There already exists a cross-jurisdiction internet poker traffic sharing compact, called the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, which has been signed by Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, and West Virginia.
Five States Are Members of the MSIGAThe participating members of this compact have seen traffic figures boosted for those sites that have taken advantage of its provisions and combined their liquidity pools from several states together into one. This means that they can offer more simultaneously active cash games and larger tournament prize pools, which in turn drive even greater traffic to their platforms.
Any licensed New York internet poker scheme would see a boost in participation figures if it were to join the MSIGA. However, the other member states of the agreement stand to benefit greatly too. This is because the population of New York is close to 20 million, which is almost as much as the 25 million residing in the other member states. Thus New York alone could nearly double the interactive poker action within the multi-state area should it join the compact.
Previous Attempts at Legalizing NY Online Poker
This isn't by any means the first attempt at legalizing online poker in New York. Indeed, it's not even Senator Addabbo's first attempt. He and his colleague in the New York State Assembly, Gary Pretlow (D), have been trying to pass online gaming legislation for close to a decade now. They have introduced bills on this topic almost every year, like Pretlow's AB 1380 last year, and in fact have sometimes drafted multiple pieces of gaming legislation within a single year.
Assemblyman Gary Pretlow Often Acts in Concert With Senator Addabbo for Gaming LegislationSuch is the case this year. Their previous foray into this matter came earlier in 2024 in February when they introduced two companion bills designated SB 8185 in the Senate and AB 9198 in the Assembly. Unlike Addabbo's latest poker bill, these earlier texts called for the regulation of online casino games, including poker, with license fees of $2 million and a 30.5% tax rate.
Both bills were referred to committee and have not seen any subsequent activity. SB 9226 may be an effort to bypass opposition to full-fledged online casino gaming by concentrating on poker alone.
This piecemeal approach may just be the key to success in a large and diverse state like New York. After all, retail sports betting arrived in the state in July 2019, little more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court OKed such gambling expansion with its ruling in Murphy v. NCAA. However, it took until January 2022 for NY-licensed online sports wagering to become legal. State leaders seem to have a preference for going slowly rather than rushing in headlong where gambling expansion is concerned.
Timeline
The current legislative session is set to recess on June 6. Therefore, there's less than a month for Senator Addabbo and his colleague Assemblyman Pretlow to drum up support for the bill.
However, in New York, it's not uncommon for legislators to be recalled for short sessions even after they have gone into recess. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming, and Wagering, Joseph Addabbo could potentially call for such a session if he believes the bill will pass. Gary Pretlow occupies a similar position as the chair of the Assembly Committee on Racing and Wagering. The legislative session ends in January 2025, so there's plenty of time to get SB 9226 passed if lawmakers express a desire to do so.
Once passed, the act will take effect immediately. The Gaming Commission will then have 120 days to draft and approve the regulations under which NY online poker will operate. After this process is completed, the Commission will award licenses to the approved applicants but may not do so until 160 days after the promulgation of regulations. This delay is meant to negate any first-mover advantage that hasty business leaders might otherwise enjoy by filing their applications as soon as possible.
Thus, even if SB 9226 were to be approved today and signed by the governor right away, we would still have to wait probably 280 days (9 months) – or even longer – before the first sites go live.
Don't Wait on Albany
Even as the lawmakers in the State Capitol hem and haw about the details of an online poker bill that might or might not come to fruition, there are already offshore poker sites ready and waiting for you. There's nothing illegal about playing at these online cardrooms; in fact, New York's gambling laws contain an exception for people enjoying games from the privacy of their own homes.
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For additional insight into your poker options as a New Yorker, check out this comprehensive guide to New York online poker. If you live elsewhere in the United States, then this page about offshore poker for Americans might prove useful. For details on the legal aspects of this pastime, browse over to this overview of poker law in the USA.