Savvy political observers in Florida last week were suggesting that the Bill to watch is HB 425, a regulatory proposal which easily passed through the legislature and contains an interesting provision that could portend future attempts to legalise internet poker in the sunshine state.

The provision creating ripples of excitement requires the legislature’s policy research arm to complete a study into the implications and impact of Internet poker on Florida’s physical or ‘land’ poker rooms.

Supported by lobbyists from American Poker Ventures LLC, the measure sets a deadline of December 1st for the policy research department to submit it’s report, which is to consider what laws may be necessary to afford protection and overcome any problems associated with what it refers to as “existing and unregulated poker activities.”

The management of Californian-registered American Poker Ventures includes political consultant Jim Tabilio, who also serves as president of Poker Voters of America, a national grassroots group dedicated to “protecting the rights of American poker players by educating elected officials, the media and opinion makers about the impact on poker players of current and pending legislation at state and federal levels.”

The 3D online gambling games developer Betsoft Gaming has inked an agreement to provide eight 3D games in its Slots3 series to the ubercool Scandinavian-facing online casino Mr. Green.com, voted by Internetworld the top Internet gambling website last year.

“Slots3 represents the next evolution in the slot gaming market; true 3D, cinematic slots which makes for a perfect pairing with the creative next generation site MrGreen operates.” said Aliya Alpiyeva, Betsoft’s Director of Marketing.

“Mr Green and Betsoft share the same focus in design and providing the players with extra thrills,” said Mikael Pawlo, Mr Green’s managing director. “BetSoft has a great product and we expect the Slots3 games to be a perfect fit in our unique platform, Mr Green being the first to offer the next generation of slot machines in the Nordic market”

The upcoming release includes both popular and profitable titles such as The SlotFather, Heist and the newly upgraded Aztec Treasures, all of which attracted considerable attention at the last ICE (i) expo.

Mr. Green.com was founded by Fredrik Sidfalk and Henrik Bergquist, two out of three of the Betsson founders. The third founder of Mr Green is Mikael Pawlo, managing director, who has a strong Internet, policy and marketing background. The operation is licensed by the LGA in Malta.

Fears that gambling measures would run out of time in the Texas legislature were realised this week when it was revealed that these were among dozens of proposals that the state House of Representatives would not have time to consider in a calendar that already stretches to 28 pages.

The proposal to change the state constitution to legalise casino gambling was the first casualty, with sponsors taking it off this session’s work program after failing to reach the necessary 100 votes to progress further.

And a bill proposing the legalisation of poker authored by San Antonio Representative Jose Menendez was pulled when he was told that even if passed, the measure would not be signed by Governor Rick Perry.

“Sometimes you flush goodwill if you put a dead bill out on the floor,” Menendez said, explaining his decision to withdraw the measure without debate.

Families of inveterate gamblers can now breathe a sigh of relief from their relatives who are addicted to gambling. The two casino resorts in the island-state are fully collaborating with the government’s Family Service Centres in conjunction with the National Problem Gambling Association to launch an exclusion facility that will hopefully protect and safeguard dependents and other family members of gamblers.
The main feature for this facility to work is to enable the families and dependents of problem gamblers to report the compulsive gamblers and have them legally barred from entering the casinos in the island. The facility in effect empowers the immediate members of the concerned families such as spouses, children, parents and siblings to report these gamblers and apply for Family Exclusion Orders (FEO).
The facility will even entertain requests from adopted and step relations in a sincere effort to safeguard the financial interests of the concerned families. Those with physical or mental disabilities can still apply for FEO through a legal guardian or any extended family member or a government-appointed person. The same rule applies in cases where the family member is still a minor (below 21 years old).
Applications for the FEO must be in person at any Family Service Centre. Additional information can be obtained through the National Problem Gambling Association 24/7 helpline.

Labor organizations Monday said expanding gambling in New Hampshire could bring in more cash to shore up the state budget while providing much needed jobs.

At a news conference, labor groups called upon legislators to broaden gambling laws in the state and cited a project supported by the Fix It Now New Hampshire Coalition that supporters say could bring the cash-strapped state $200 million a year, depending on how the operation is taxed.

New Hampshire is facing a $650 million gap in a $3.1 billion general fund budget over the next two fiscal years.

“Let’s face it. There aren’t many opportunities on the horizon,” said Ed Foley, president of the New Hampshire State Building and Construction Trades Council. “This project, we believe, will be our own little stimulus program in New Hampshire.”

Foley, a business representative to the coalition, said 4,000 jobs would be created by allowing Millennium Gaming to spend $450 million to put video lottery machines at Rockingham Park race track in Salem.

Millennium Gaming owns two casinos in Las Vegas and The Meadows racino in Washington County, Pa. Millennium has an option to buy the thoroughbred track in Salem and says it could have video gaming at the track in temporary space within seven months of getting approval.

Foley said it was nonsense to talk about laying off state workers when video lottery revenues are a revenue option.

Representatives from the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Troopers Association and SEIU Local 1984 also attended the news conference.

Fire fighters president David Lang said emergency workers were being furloughed with proposed cuts in state aid to communities.

“We need revenue. This debate should not be about living within our means. This debate should be about what it means to live in New Hampshire,” he said.

New Hampshire has long resisted casinos, video slots or expanding gambling at race tracks to include video machines. In March, the House killed two bills to expand gambling. Two weeks later, the Senate postponed action on an expanded gambling measure. Supporters didn’t have enough votes to pass it and delayed final action to buy time.

Gambling advocates are hoping the state’s budget woes will generate enthusiasm for video slots as a revenue-producing alternative to raising taxes. Even foes believe the vote could be close in the Senate as it struggles to write a budget without a new tax on capital gains used by the House to balance its version of the two-year spending plan.

New Hampshire has neither a personal income tax or general sales tax, and Gov. John Lynch has pledged to veto any legislation that would create such taxes. Lynch also has signaled he would not support expanded gambling as a way to help solve the state’s money problems.

Gary Smith, president of the State Employees’ Association, noted that New Hampshire sells lottery tickets and allows charity gaming already. He said the state should not ignore the potential revenue from video lottery.

Critics, who attended the news conference Monday, argued that video lottery is addictive, would mean more crime and would erode New Hampshire’s quality of life.

“This is a one-way fix down the water slide into the pool,” said David Lamarre-Vincent of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling.

As the legislative session careened toward an incomplete halt last week, it became clear that no casino riverboat is an island.

Gov. Mitch Daniels acknowledged what Northwest Indiana lawmakers would not: Any attempt to relocate one of Gary’s lakefront casinos within the city almost certainly would mean the Steel City’s second casino would go dormant until its license could be moved elsewhere, probably outside the city if not the region.

“I thought it was kind of common knowledge,” the Republican governor told reporters. “Some time ago (Gary legislators) came in — this idea has been out there — (and said) that you might go to one (Gary casino), put it in a place that attracts more business than the two combined do now.”

Daniels said the casino relocation, which stalled on the final day of the legislative session, would “take one license out of play, at least initially.”

The General Assembly is headed to special session after failing to approve a new state budget, so the plan could find new life in coming weeks.

“We were very, very close,” Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said Friday. “Believe you me, it will come up again.”

Region lawmakers advocate moving one of Gary’s lakefront casino licenses to the Little Calumet River or to a land-based facility near the intersection of Interstate 65 and the Borman Expressway. Supporters are counting on a resulting spike in wagering taxes to finance bonds to build a teaching and trauma hospital in Gary, extend South Shore commuter rail lines to Lowell and Valparaiso, and redevelop the Lake Michigan shoreline.

But a Times analysis of state gaming figures found that just moving a casino within Gary would not generate nearly enough revenue to finance all three projects.

The two adjacent Majestic Star Casinos in Gary’s Buffington Harbor paid $58.7 million in wagering taxes last year on $245.6 million in revenues, and they are on pace for a 10 percent decline this year.

If a consolidated Gary casino attracted the same level of business it would pay $11 million more a year in taxes under the state’s graduated wagering tax rates. That’s roughly a third of what region legislators have said would be needed to finance $350 million in debt for the South Shore expansion alone.

The Gary hospital project carries a similar price tag.

The deal has a better chance of working if Gary’s second casino license is put on the auction block, which might attract a one-time sum of about $250 million. That was the price horse racing tracks in Anderson and Shelbyville paid the state in 2007 for the right to install slot machines.

Fort Wayne officials previously expressed interest in obtaining one of the Gary casino licenses. But Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, insisted the Gary casino move doesn’t belong in the special session mix after it helped derail a budget deal last week.

“They were trying to force some sort of a deal on it,” Long said of Lake County legislators. “But the fact of the matter is gambling and the 2009-2011 budget aren’t going to be simpatico, alright. (We’re) going to worry about getting a budget we can live with. Issues with gambling and whose running the boats do not belong in this budget.”