Proponents of legalized online poker in the US have been hoping for a major development in one of the more populous states for a long time, and most recently, New York has been one of the states that a lot of speculations were circling about.
The Chair of the Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming, and Wagering, Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr, introduced a bill that proposed establishing a regulated New York online poker market just last week, but he also brought some bad news following a meeting of the Committee last Tuesday.
“This is probably our last meeting for the year,” said Addabbo at the end, suggesting that Bill S9226 would probably not be moving forward in 2024 and that online poker will have to wait for at least one more year before going live in the Empire State.
For the thousands of poker fans in New York, this comes as sad news, as many were hopeful the bill would move forward and the first online poker operators could potentially be going live soon.
Neighboring states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania have had a regulated iGaming market for years now, and with New York legalizing online sports betting, the hopes of a legalized online poker and casino market remain high.
What Happens to the Bill Now?
At this point, it remains unclear why Addabbo and his committee decided to shelf the bill for now, as it was just recently introduced and there was some hope it would be presented to the Senate.
According to Pokerfuse, the Committee had enough time to submit the bill, as the rules state: “Each chair of a standing committee shall to the extent practicable, no later than 3 p.m. the Thursday preceding the regular meeting, furnish to the conference leaders, and make available to each member of such committee, a copy of the agenda of such regular meeting together with a copy of the introducer’s memorandum for each bill listed on such agenda for such regular meeting.”
However, despite the bill not being presented at this time and the Senate going on recess in early June, Addabbo will still have opportunities to move forward with S9226 this year if he so chooses.
Being one of the legislative leaders, Addabbo has the right to call for a Senate floor vote on this Bill until January 2025.
An Ongoing Gaming Agenda
While S9226 did not move forward at this time, there is definitely a lot of hope that New York will eventually legalize online poker over the next few years.
Addabbo made sure not to close the door on the bill moving forward in the year either, as he said it is “probably” the last meeting of the year, but not definitively, as he thanked his fellow committee members on their input on ways to expand gaming and racing in New York safely.
“I want to say thank you to, obviously, my colleagues. Thank you very much for your input, as we expand gaming and racing in our state — but in a safe way:” said Addabbo.
The Committee advanced nine gaming bills in this year’s session, with 27 others remaining on the shelves for now, including the one that could put New York online poker on the map.
As things stand, we will likely have to wait at least until next year to see positive movement, although a surprise news could come along in the latter half of 2024 and push the online poker agenda in the right direction sooner.
