Florida Gaming Law Changes Could Raise Limits and Lower Age

Through the will of the people and the sense of many government officials, it seems that Florida could be on the verge of radically changing its gaming laws. But the difference between the two pieces of legislation - one in the House and one in the Senate - may be the difference between the life and death of poker in the state.

The Florida House of Representatives is currently examining a proposal that would dramatically reduce the amount of poker that is played in the state. The legislation moving through the House looks to rid many casinos of card games, as well as blackjack and baccarat, entirely, which would affect resorts like the Hard Rock Resort & Hotel and six other Seminole-run casinos, as they would only be allowed to offer slot machine action for their customers.

In contrast, the Senate is moving in the other direction with a gambling expansion bill that was introduced last week. Not only would the legislation allow Seminole resorts to expand casino operations with roulette and craps, but it would push for more slot machines to be installed at locations throughout the state. Florida would reap another $400 million per year from the Seminoles in exchange for the expansion rights. In addition, some racetracks in the state would be allowed to add blackjack and no-limit poker to their repertoire, and their tax rate would be lowered. All in all, the legislation, if passed, would bring another $1 billion in revenue to the state that would be dedicated to its underfunded education system.

The Senate plan is the most progressive by far, even seeking to lower the gambling age of Florida residents to 18 from its current age of 21. And most pertinent to the poker community, the gambling proposal looks to completely lift the current limit of $100 on cash game buy-ins and the slightly higher limit on poker tournament buy-ins.

In an interview with the Miami Herald, World Poker Tour founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb noted, “People will come and have a unique experience, not just in the casino, but in the community. And those people actually come back and bring other people with them.” And in reference to previous talks between the WPT and the Seminoles regarding a tour stop in Florida, he added, “We were ready to make a deal, and we couldn’t get around that. Doing a $500 event just isn’t what we do.”

And according to many Florida news outlets, numerous Representatives who initially opposed the Senate bill are reconsidering their votes as they are presented with the poker skill argument and state revenue possibilities.

In a time when states are suffering in the midst of a nation-wide recession and struggling to cut budgets and find revenue where possible, there seems to be no better time than now to embrace the high-stakes poker phenomenon. Poker can bring people and subsequent revenue to a state facing a multi-billion dollar budget deficit, and combined with the growing recognition that poker is a game of skill, the Senate might have the winning hand in this legislative match-up.

Lineup For 2009 National Heads Up Poker Championship Announced

As players battle it out in Los Angeles at the World Poker Tour’s L. A. Poker Classic, players are also looking forward to the upcoming 2009 National Heads Up Poker Championship, which will be played out from March 5th to the 8th at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In preparing for what has become one of the most cherished championships in the poker world, officials for Caesars and their broadcast partner NBC have released the list of the 64 players who have been invited to participate in this year’s event.

Yielding perhaps to criticism over player selection in the previous four years of the tournament, the officials of the NHUPC and NBC created a list of criteria for those who would be invited to play in the event. The criteria established included being a former champion of the event, the runner-up in the tournament for the past two years, the players who were in the semi-finals of the previous year, the past three World Series of Poker Main Event champions and last year’s runner-up, multiple bracelet winners of the previous year’s WSOP and the titleholders of the WSOP Player of the Year, the WSOP Heads Up Champion, the WSOP Europe, the WPT Player of the Year, the European Poker Tour Grand Final and the reigning Players of the Year as decided by both CardPlayer and Bluff Magazines.

Just from this criteria alone, the players who have earned an automatic berth into the fifth edition of this tournament - which for the first time will have a sponsor in GoDaddy.com - read like a who’s who of poker. Previous champions Phil Hellmuth (2005), Ted Forrest (2006), Paul Wasicka (2007) and defending champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson lead a list that, by the criteria established, also includes Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Huck Seed, Phil Ivey, Scott Fischman, Peter Eastgate, Jerry Yang, Jamie Gold, Ivan Demidov, John Phan, Erick Lindgren, Kenny Tran, John Juanda, Jonathan Little and Glen Chorny. While these players have earned their way in through their performance over the past few years, they have a tremendous challenge in the invited players they will be battling over the four days in Las Vegas.

Former WSOP champions Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem lead a list that also includes PokerStars sponsored players Barry Greenstein and Daniel Negreanu, Full Tilt Poker teammates Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow and Erik Seidel, and first time invitees Gavin Griffin and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. The ladies will be represented by Annie Duke, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Harman, Vanessa Rousso, Vanessa Selbst and actress/poker player Jennifer Tilly. There will also be a celebrity presence with legendary baseball player Orel Hershiser, “High Stakes Poker” announcer Gabe Kaplan and actor Brad Garrett, who will be making his first appearance in the NHUPC.

Caesars Palace has been allotted two satellite qualifiers for the tournament and one of those have already been taken by Jeffrey Ishbia. There will be four online qualifiers as well, with Leon Yanovski already assured of a trip to Las Vegas for the tournament. Overall the tournament should be one of the most competitive in history, with 119 WSOP bracelets, 27 WPT titles and over $290 million in career earnings garnered by the participants vying for the $500,000 first place prize.

The festivities for the 2009 National Heads Up Poker Championship will kick off on March 5th with the draw party being held at Pure, the highly exclusive nightclub on the Caesars Palace grounds. Three days of poker will whittle the field down to the champion and NBC will be there to record all of the action. The broadcast of this year’s NHUPC will start on NBC on April 12th and will work down to the title match over the next six weeks. For a full list of the players that have been invited to participate and details on earning a spot in the tournament through the online qualifiers, visit NBC’s dedicated site for the 2009 National Heads Up Poker Championship.

Texas Hearing Shows Support for Menendez Poker Bill

When a state legislature committee hearing is taken over by poker players, the game of skill argument, and general poker lingo, a good day for the game can be logged in the books. But an official committee vote next week will determine whether that is indeed a true statement.

The March 25th hearing in the Texas House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee set aside an afternoon time to listen to testimony regarding House Bill 222. The bill, also known as the Poker Gaming Act of 2009, introduced by Rep. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) in November 2008 is one that intends to make poker legal, regulated, and taxed in Texas. The legislation is also intended to create a safe playing environment for those who simply want to play cards rather than risk their lives, as has been the case with a recent rash of armed robberies of private games.

Many came to the State Capitol to take the stand on behalf of HB 222, such as poker player and Bluff columnist Michele Lewis, who discussed the safety concerns of playing in back room games as well as the contention that poker is a safer investment in today’s economy than the stock market or real estate. She also discussed the recent Cigital study that unequivocally showed poker as a game of skill.

Also on hand was Vernon Harrison, president of the Texas Card Players Association. Representing its 500 members, he discussed the tax that would be placed on establishments that would choose to run poker rooms. “Poker players are the only people in the state of Texas saying, ‘Please tax us.’ We want what we would get for that tax, which is a safe place to play poker.”

The committee will hold a vote on HB 222 next week, though an exact date has not been announced. But the majority of the nine-member committee may vote it through to push it forward in the legislative process. According to Dan Michalski of Pokerati.com, as a former Texas resident and state politics insider, four of the committee members are very likely to vote for the bill, while two will definitely vote against it. The others, especially Chairman Edmund Keumpel, are unknown in their stand on the issue. Thus, the importance of reaching out to those committee members en masse through e-mails and phone calls can’t be overstated.