The lawmaker of Michigan is hoping to pass legislation related to online poker. With time more and more countries are starting to accept the idea of online poker legislation.
It looks like Michigan might be next in line to accept and legalize it. In the last few weeks, the lawmakers and the stakeholders have put their heads together to pass the Lawful Internet Gaming Act. This is going to legalize online poker in Michigan before this year comes to an end.
Michigan House Bill 4311 is going to real money online gambling operators for tribal, as well as commercial casinos. This effort is being championed by Brandt Iden, the representative.
The previous bill to legalize casino games and online poker had been vetoed out by Rick Snyder, the outgoing governor about one year ago.
The two bills which have to be passed are HB 4916 and HB 4311. These two are going to expand the gambling industry in Michigan and it will lead to the launch of online poker, multi-channel sports betting, and online casino.
Even though it had been vetoed previously, it is being expected that things might be different this year. Gretchen Whitmer, the governor appears to be supporting this online gambling legislation. However, she has shown some reservations and is worried that if online poker and the various other casino games are going to cannibalize the sale of lottery.
The sale of online lottery is pretty important in Michigan and is known to allocate about 100% of the revenue of the MI online lottery to the School Aid Fund. If online gambling is legalized, there is an ongoing concern that it is going to truncate the amount of funding which is received by the state schools.
Nevertheless, the governor is hoping that there is a solution to the problem. To pass the bill, he has put forward the proposition of imposing a 40% tax rate for casinos and online poker operators. Also, they will have to pay a license fee of $1 million. Even though it sounds a lot, Michigan is a large state and thus, there are several online gambling operators. They are surely going to jump to this idea. Hence, it can be expected that the state is going to receive several applications of license even if the fees are pretty high.
In case online casino and poker legislation is passed in the state of Michigan, similar rules are going to be applied to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When online brands like PokerStars that doesn’t have a brick-mortar license in Michigan gets an online license, they would seek to partner which a licensed land-based brand.
Thus, casinos such as Four Wins, Bay Mills, and Kewadin might spend their funds and join in. there are more than 20 casinos in Michigan. This means online poker operators are not going to face many problems in finding out a brick-and-mortar gaming partner to operate in Michigan. Finally, it can be hoped that the online poker players of Michigan are all set to receive a Christmas gift.
