If a proposed bill is passed in the New York legislature, the Empire State could be on its way to regulating online casinos and sports books.
As part of an expansion to state gaming laws, which started last fall, the head of the Senate's committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering has introduced a bill that would mandate offshore operators to register within the state.
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The concept is geared at starting the regulatory process in the state, but not biting off more than the legislature, or gaming regulators, can chew.
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Sen. Bill Larkin resurrected the bill, which was passed in the Senate in 1999 but never got through the Assembly.
The bill made it out of committee last week and now goes before the full Senate. The bill isn't top priority in the legislature, but the session runs through mid July, and Larkin's general counsel, Stephen Casscles, said they're making progress.
"It is one of those things where we are pushing the concept of it, so it may take a while," he said. "I don't think it will happen next week or anything like that."
The concept is geared at starting the regulatory process in the state, but not biting off more than the legislature, or gaming regulators, can chew.
The bill would give the state the authority to moderate those operators who target New York-based players. The idea, said Casscles, is to give players protection and peace of mind when they do venture online to gamble.
"You have to get a license and all this stuff if you are in state," he said. "If you are on the Internet, you don't have to do anything at all. We don't know if they are scamming people or if they are giving them legitimate odds."
There were no significant changes in the state's gaming laws following the introduction of the first Larkin bill until the fall of 2001, when the state expanded its gaming laws by legalizing VTLs and other gaming devices. In light of this recent progress, Larkin felt the time was right to revisit the Internet measure.
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"I think the racing law is of the most concern," he said. "We want to make sure that the betting public has at least some chance of getting some payoff at some point. On the Internet you just don't know."
-Stephen Casscles
General Counsel for Sen. Larkin
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"There was a little hiatus in that, but we are ready to try it again," he said. "You have all these state laws that regulate gambling when it comes to internal measures, but you have all this other stuff that is flying around. What happens is that what is on the books doesn't really reflect what is reality as far as who can game and when you can game."
Casscles said that as more and more reports about bettors getting the short end of the stick surfaced, particularly with horse racing, something had to be done.
"I think the racing law is of the most concern," he said. "We want to make sure that the betting public has at least some chance of getting some payoff at some point. On the Internet you just don't know."
As Larkin and his staff push the bill forward, Casscles said, a heavy emphasis has been placed on educating legislatures on how the measure would protect consumers who gamble online. Most of the initial response, he said, has been outstanding.
"There weren't any negative votes on the bill when it was in committee," he said. "If anything there were those who wanted to make it stronger and add some enforcement measures to it."
Larkin realizes the heavy burden of trying to regulate the entire Internet, or even a small sector of it like gaming. But Casscles said requiring operators to register within the state as a corporation would be the fist step in monitoring the situation and protecting players. He also pointed out that the measure would be no burden on the state.
"It would be a very complicated thing to do," he said. "So you don't want to do it where you shut down the whole Internet either. It will be hard to do, so we are just kind of pushing the idea to get comments and we got some valuable comments at the committee meeting."
Casscles said Larkin isn't trying to be the white knight for consumers, nor is he hoping to see a fully regulated Internet gaming industry in his state right away. Instead, he said, he hopes the measure can help control the Internet gaming industry.
Click here to view the proposed bill.