{"id":9035,"date":"2019-03-08T05:02:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T10:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onlinepokeramerica.com\/news\/?p=9035"},"modified":"2019-03-08T05:02:02","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T10:02:02","slug":"michigans-new-online-gambling-bills-to-champion-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onlinepokeramerica.com\/news\/michigans-new-online-gambling-bills-to-champion-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan’s New Online Gambling Bills to Champion Poker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michigan is considering two new online gambling bill that would allow the state to push ahead with various iGaming and poker operations. <\/em><\/p>\n

Michigan’s Long Road to Legalizing Online Poker<\/h2>\n

Michigan has been making efforts to legalize its online gambling industry, and by extension \u2013 online poker, since at least 2016<\/strong>. Multiple bills arrived at the time with Senator Mike Kowall<\/strong> vowing a strong support for the expansion of the state’s industry.<\/p>\n

Bringing industrial casinos and tribal compacts to the same table to negotiate an expansion of the online industry failed, but the idea persevered. It lasted until 2017 when Mr. Kowall was back, sponsoring two bills trying to reinstate the issue. Mr. Kowall’s S 203<\/strong> and S 204<\/strong> joined S 202<\/strong> and S 205<\/strong>, bringing the total number of proposals to four that year.<\/p>\n

None of this picked off, though and Mr. Kowall had to wait until his colleague, Rep. Brandt Iden<\/a>, drew the most successful proposal to date, H 4926<\/strong>. H 4926 <\/strong>was the state’s first successful attempt to clear all regulatory milestones, blasting its way through the House and Senate, Committees, and finally arriving at the office of now former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder<\/a>. Mr. Iden had good reason to throw his support behind a poker legislation:<\/p>\n

And make no mistake about it \u2014 people across Michigan already are playing poker, black jack and other casino-style games online. When they play for money, they are doing so illegally under current state law. They also risk identity theft, problems accessing their money and other dangers playing on unsafe, unregulated sites. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, 2018 <\/strong>didn’t see the bill push through as Mr. Snyder struck it down in December, arguing that the issue was too sensitive, citing fears over inter-state and online gambling both. In light of what happened in January, 2019, Mr. Snyder wasn’t too far from the mark.<\/p>\n

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein<\/strong> signed a revised DOJ OCL opinion on the Wire Act<\/strong> according to which sports betting was not the only segment affected by the WA. With this small legal change present, the fate of online gambling is less certain these days. <\/p>\n

This hasn’t stopped Michigan’s lawmakers to pursue the idea nevertheless.<\/p>\n