Florida to Legalize Poker by July?

March 8 D-day for Abruzzo Bill The Florida state Assembly will likely include in its schedule a debate on a bill proposing intrastate legalization of online poker, presented by Representative Joseph Abruzzo, it was announced this week. The session, which will be held on March 8, will be crucial for the bill, as it may see Florida having legalized online poker sector by July 1. With Florida's $4 billion budget deficit, the bill may stand a good chance with the state's lawmakers, thanks to the significant tax revenues which will be raised if online poker gets strictly regulated. What Abruzzo's bill proposes is to allow licensed dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons to create portals to legal online poker rooms. Based on its provisions, 10 percent of each card room's revenues would go to the state, the same amount it gets now from live poker rooms. "We want to legalize it, regulate it and bring the revenue to Florida," said Abruzzo, a Democrat representing the Wellington district. "To me it's common sense to protect our players." In addition to this, the bill he presented proposes that “up to three sites would contract with the state as a hub, and websites of Florida's 23 pari-mutuels' with card rooms would act as portals. Players would have to navigate to one of the websites to play with a pool of other Florida players. The company that runs the hubs would take a rake from each pot and give it to the card rooms.” The bill is not without support, and as Daniel Francati, manager of the Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poker Room, recently stated, he is for the proposal and is eager to benefit from a huge market: "I think it'll help take Internet players and try to convert them into brick-and-mortar players. You always have a question when people are playing online for money," he said. "How do you know they're paying if it isn't regulated?" As for competition in shape of offshore companies, Francati stated he has no problem with them, as long as they make commitments to invest in the state. "The other guys want to have their cake and eat it," he said. "They don't pay taxes, have no employees -- if they want to play they should have an investment in the state of Florida." According to certain Senate committee estimates, by the third year of regulated online poker, net revenue would reach some $37 million. However, Abruzzo claims that the amount will be even higher, due to the fact that 900,000 Floridians are registered to play online poker, and at least a third of them play for money. Since it provides exclusivity to land operators which already have the state's licenses, similarly to the proposals in California and New Jersey, Abruzzo's proposal would reportedly exclude global internet poker giants like Full Tilt and Pokerstars. However, this doesn't seem to bother the excluded companies too much, since according to an independent survey from 2009, 10 million Americans play online poker for money. It was stated by John Pappas of the Poker Players Alliance in a comment on the Florida moves: "What we believe is the opportunity should be available to those who qualify to try to get regulated, and if regulators decide that they're the best ones to offer services, they should be able to offer it. It shouldn't be a decision made in the legislature." He added that confining action within a state reduces player liquidity and the chance for Florida players to compete against a wider field and for bigger pots. In favor of this stand spoke Randy Kasper of the Poker Players International agency, who pointed out: "Why would I as a professional poker player even stay in the state of Florida? I want to go to where my $1,000 will be $35,000 - or even $100,000." However, these statements do not seem to bother Abruzzo, who is even considering raising the state's cut from the initial 10 to 20 percent. The outcome remains to be seen.