Historical Horse Racing Almost Derails Poker Bill From Passing Senate

Can you please rephrase your request?

On Thursday, the Senate approved the legislation, marking Michigan’s initial move towards establishing multi-state online poker player pools.

S 991 needs to pass the House and receive the governor’s signature to become law, following its approval in the Senate with a vote of 36-1.

According to Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., the bill’s sponsor, he anticipates that the House will not pass the bill until the lame-duck session in November, as he told Playinmichigan.

According to Hertel, the bill is something that everyone agrees on, and it should progress without any issues. He believes that there is no controversy surrounding it. However, he is unsure about the timeline for its completion, speculating that it may not happen before the election but likely right after.

The regulatory and licensing process for online gambling in Michigan is currently being finalized, with plans to launch the activity around Thanksgiving.

MI multi-state online poker bill almost derailed by historical horse racing

Last week, the bill was recommended for passage by the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee.

However, there were some incidents during that endeavor. One of the co-sponsors of the bill seeking to legalize historical horse racing attempted to connect his efforts with the multi-state poker bill.

Hertel was caught off guard by the amendment and wasn’t given any prior notification before the hearing. In a rush, he hurriedly made his way to the committee to persuade Sen. Dan Lauwers, who was also a co-sponsor, that the amendment was not feasible. He described his actions as moving swiftly and urgently, akin to a bat flying out of hell.

“They believed that this could be a compelling factor in convincing casinos to embrace historical racing. However, I explained to them that while casinos may be interested, it’s not actually a significant concern for them. In fact, it holds more significance for the players than for the casinos themselves. Poker, for instance, is not a major source of revenue. After engaging in a conversation with them, they were open to reason and decided to withdraw the amendment.”

The amendment’s approval would have made it necessary for the historical racing bill to be passed alongside the multi-state poker bill in order for it to become law. Although Hertel is in favor of the historical horse racing bill, its controversy increases due to opposition from Michigan casinos. If the historical racing bill had been attached to the poker bill, it could have significantly diminished its likelihood of success.

MI multi-state online poker language fixes mistake

The inclusion of multi-state pooling was initially found in the Lawful Internet Gaming Act, which was successfully passed towards the end of 2019.

At the behest of the Michigan Lottery, lawmakers decided to eliminate the mentioned provision just before its implementation. The lottery had expressed unease regarding the potential competition between multi-state progressive slot machine jackpots and interstate lottery games like Mega Millions.

Currently, Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey have established an interstate poker pool by means of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. Michigan is considering joining this agreement or potentially forming a similar one with Pennsylvania, its neighboring state. This move aims to enhance the variety of options and increase liquidity for online poker players in Michigan.

Hertel perceives the omission as a mistake and aims to rectify it by proposing the following wording:

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has the authority to establish agreements with various jurisdictions, including Indian tribes, in order to facilitate, administer, and regulate internet gaming for poker that spans multiple jurisdictions. However, this agreement can only be made if it aligns with both state and federal laws, and if the internet gaming operations under the agreement are limited to the United States.

Please rewrite the sentence or provide the original sentence that needs to be rewritten.