{"id":8940,"date":"2019-01-01T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-01T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onlinepokeramerica.com\/news\/?p=8940"},"modified":"2019-01-01T08:00:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-01T13:00:44","slug":"outgoing-michigan-governor-vetoes-online-gaming-poker-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onlinepokeramerica.com\/news\/outgoing-michigan-governor-vetoes-online-gaming-poker-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Outgoing Michigan Governor Vetoes Online Gaming, Poker Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two weeks ago, the state of Michigan closed its legislative session with a last-minute vote on House Bill 4926<\/a> which, if passed, would legalize online gambling \u2013 that is online casino games, online poker and, eventually, online sports betting \u2013 in the state. The legislature and Rep. Brandt Iden, who introduced the bill, were so confident in the odds of having the bill passed after it passed by a tally of 33-5. All that remained was for the piece of legislation to signed by Governor Rick Snyder after which Michigan would officially become the fifth state in the US to legalize online gambling, an industry that is currently live in Delaware, New Jersey, Nevada, and most recently, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, waiting until the last minute before he left office, the governor decided to dash the hopes of online gambling fans and potential online gambling operators in the state when he opted to veto the online gambling and online poker legislation.<\/a> This was a big blow to most of the people who had been following it since the early days.<\/strong><\/p>\n In his response to the matter that was issued in a letter, the outgoing governor said that one of the reasons why he chose not to pass the bill was because he did not think that it was appropriate to sign legislation that would effectively result in more gambling in Michigan. He was also concerned that the state would lose revenue due to shifts by gamblers from the state-run online lottery to the online casinos that were being proposed.<\/strong><\/p>\n Snyder further said that he appreciated the efforts that the lawmakers put in drafting the bipartisan bill that had the support of both the commercial and tribal gaming entities in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to largely unknown budgetary concerns, I believe this legislation merits more careful study and comparison with how other states have, or will, authorize online gaming,\u201d Gov. Snyder wrote. \u201cTo be blunt, we simply don\u2019t have the data to support this change at this time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Other gambling-related bills that were vetoed by the outgoing governor included ones that were looking to make changes to the regulation for the state’s commercial casino industry, fantasy sports, and horse racing as well as the charitable gaming act, all of which have been plagued by several issues for years.<\/p>\nWhy the Veto?<\/h2>\n
Back to the Drawing Board<\/h2>\n