Proposed legislation from Joseph Abruzzo would legalise intrastate games in hopes of easing southern state’s projected budget deficit of $3.2 billion.
Thursday 11th March 2010
In America, a State Representative in Florida has submitted a bill that would, if passed, legalise online poker in the southern state in the hope of raising $200 million a year to help ease a projected $3.2 billion annual budget deficit.
Filed by Democrat Joseph Abruzzo last week, the proposed Internet Poker Consumer Protection And Revenue Generation Act would ‘create a framework for the state to regulate Internet poker sites that can ensure consumer protections and additional revenue to the state by authorising, implementing and creating a licensing and regulatory structure and system of Internet poker’.
Abruzzo represents the state’s largest and wealthiest county, Palm Beach, and estimated that approximately 900,000 Florida residents gamble online while stating that his measure could raise more than $200 million a year for the state’s coffers. Like many states, Florida is facing an annual budget deficit and the proposed legislation would charge $500,000 for a license to offer poker in the state while operators would also be required hand over 20 percent of any monthly gross receipts.
The bill would require Florida’s Division Of Parimutuel Wagering to supervise activities while stating that any ‘Internet poker hub operator must register players and establish player accounts prior to play’. This could be done ‘in person, by mail or telephone or by any electronic means’ but participants would have to be at least 21 years old to take part and physically in the state while playing.
If passed, the bill would take effect from July and also lays out specific requirements for operators alongside consumer safeguards and licensing requirements.
It is not yet clear how Abruzzo’s proposed legislation would skirt the Federal ban on offering online poker instituted by President George Bush’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 but Florida is not alone in considering intrastate poker with California, Iowa, and New Jersey also interested.
