Proposed New Hampshire Poker Tax Will Hurt Charities
In an effort to bolster diminishing state coffers, New Hampshire legislators propose to take a piece of the state’s poker action by adding a 10 percent tax on Texas Hold’em tournaments, which opponents claim will hurt charities that hold tournaments for fund raising purposes.
For several years it has been legal for only nonprofit organizations in NH to raise funds through gambling events. In April 2007, a bill passed permitting NH pari-mutuel commission to license space to charitable gaming operators, ranging from bingo to Texas Hold’em poker.
Sen. Robert Odell (R-Lempster) proposed the 10 percent tax, and incumbent governor John Lynch says he supports the bill.
$5-$10 MILLION ESTIMATED FOR STATE
Supporters estimate the new tax could bring in $5 million to $10 million to the state, according to an article in the Eagle Tribune. Some of that money would hire employees for the Pari-Mutuel Commission, the state organization that oversees card games. The state currently spends around $300,000 a year investigating gambling-related concerns.
Sen. Mike Downing (R-Salem) said the tax would only hurt charities and do little to help state budget deficits, saying, “I don’t think it’s a good idea, taxing charitable games.” He added, “There’s 35 organizations or so in Salem that made over $1.3 million last year. If you’re going to start taking money from them, who is going to make it up?”
In 2008, charities that rent space to hold poker games at facilities at Rockingham Park are expected to reap about $3 million, according to Ed Callahan, general manager of the horse race track in Salem.
Rockingham Park makes $2,000 a day renting 15,000 to 20,000 square feet for New Hampshire’s largest poker room. It’s the only cut in the profits the racetrack sees from the poker games, Callahan told the Eagle Tribune, other than the side benefit that card games bring hundreds of people to the Salem racetrack who might not otherwise come, who then might bet on horse races, play bingo or buy food.
He said 82.6 percent of the money raised from charity poker games goes into prizes. The remaining 17.4 percent goes to the charity. But the charity winds up with just 35 percent of that 17.4 percent, he said, with the rest going to the cost of putting on the game.
“The state can get the money, but then there isn’t 10 cents left to buy a chair or pay for a dealer or sweep the floor,” Callahan said.
He said he isn’t opposed to having poker companies help pay for enforcement costs. He said when the charity bingo law was amended a couple of years ago to include poker games, it originally proposed a 1 percent tax to help with oversight. He said he would be open to a smaller fee, but 10 percent is too much.
Illegal Gambling Poker Game Broken Up In Long Island, New York
The attention of law enforcement officials around the country has seemed to focus on illegal gambling slot machines as of late. That does not mean, however, that they have been overlooking illegal poker games.
One such game was broken up on Sunday when the man responsible for running the game was arrested. Police arrested the twenty nine year old man after an investigation uncovered that there was illegal poker games being played.
The William Paca Lodge was the location of the poker games. The games ranged from tournaments, to actual cash games. The investigation came to show that between twenty five to thirty five players were involved on a nightly basis.
Upon busting the game, police seized poker tables, chips, records of gambling activity, a surveillance system, and $10,000 in cash. Suffolk County Police ran the undercover operation.
The man that was arrested now faces criminal charges. He was charged with promoting gambling. While the charge is a misdemeanor, the man will still have to go through the legal process.
Florida Poker Scene
n my opinion, after Nevada, California, and Oklahoma, Florida is now the fourth best state for low-limit
poker. It has not always been so. In 1996 Florida legalized poker-sort of. They allowed games of minimal stakes, so small that the size of the entire pot could not get above $10. Players would bet 25 cents or 50 cents until the pot grew to $10; and then all betting would cease, with the dealer dealing out the remaining cards with no betting.
It was pretty silly, and the rake was an enormous percentage of the pot. Serious players stayed away.
Then, in 2000, the state increased the stakes to $2 per bet. This made the games somewhat more tolerable but still pretty poor when compared with other places where poker was legal. Poker continued to limp along, but there was no boom. And then, wonderfully, in July of 2007-less than one year ago-Florida’s legislature agreed to raise the betting limit to five dollars per bet. They also agreed to allow no limit poker, with a cap of $100 on the initial buy-in (with no limit to the number of these $100 buy-ins). When combined with the ability of poker rooms to offer poker tournaments with a maximum buy-in of $800, it made for exciting poker indeed. At last count there were 27 poker rooms in the state.
To be sure, there are still some serious limits on the games. The biggest limit poker games are $2-$4 and $3-$5. Though some rooms are open all night, many don’t open until noon and close at midnight. The rake is uniform and fairly steep-at 10 percent with a $5.00 maximum. There’s usually a bad beat or high hand jackpot of some kind-also newly allowed under the July 2007 law. Though some players love the jackpot, it amounts to an additional $1.00 drop from the game. That’s a pretty heavy tax for a relatively low limit game.
Still, within those limits, there’s some surprising variety. I stumbled across some limit stud, limit hold’em, limit Omaha/8 and no-limit hold’em. Though the buy-in for the no-limit game is limited to $100, the blinds vary: $1-$2, $2-$5, and even $5-$10. I even heard reports of ambitious high stakes players skirting the maximum buy-ins by agreeing to have the entire table go all-in repeatedly and re-buy until each player had $1,000 in chips on the table for the $5-$10 blind game. I recently returned from a trip to Florida where I sampled about a dozen rooms in the southern and central part of the state. Let me end here by giving you an overview of what I found.
Florida rooms are broadly divided into two categories: state-regulated gambling venues and Indian casinos. The successful Seminole tribe pre-dominantly runs the Indian casinos. They have enormous resources and just purchased the Hard Rock chain-inserting poker and other gaming into two of those enormous and beautiful properties-in Hollywood and Tampa. They are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There are also smaller and less successfully Indian-run poker rooms.
Poker also has a home in Florida’s jai alai frontons, dog tracks, and horse tracks. While at first these rooms could only be open when the track was in operation, they may now open from noon until midnight-even on days and during hours when the track itself is closed. They also range from enormous poker palaces like the one in Pompano Beach run by the Isle of Capri casino chain, to small rooms that seem to be struggling to survive.
In my next column I’ll give a quick review of each of the rooms I visited and then share some interesting experiences I had while I was there.
Will Finland Create a State Online Poker Monopoly?
Though gambling in Finland is organized as a national monopoly, online poker has yet to be managed by government agencies; but the idea to do so is being rekindled according to comments from Veikkaus, Finland’s national betting agency for lottery and sports betting, managed by the Finnish Ministry of Education.
Finland’s Gambling market is divided between three governing bodies. In addition to Veikkaus Oy, who manages lottery and sports betting, there is RAY, the Slot Machine Association who operates and oversees casino games, slot machines and table games, as well as Fintoto Oy, who runs pari-mutuel wagering on horses and online games.
Following a report in Finnish newspaper Keski-Uusimaa that Finns spend as much as 50 million euros annually on foreign online poker sites, Veikkaus, said they felt they could keep a significant portion of that money within Finland and use it towards public projects.
“We could gather the majority of the revenue flowing out,” said Ilkka Juva, communications manager for Veikkaus. “Certainly not all of it, but two thirds of 50 million euro could be attainable.” Nearby Sweden’s state-owned monopoly Svenska Spel could be used by Veikkaus as a business model, should the proposal move forward.
The STT news agency said recommendations for the reform of gambling in the country would be made around December.
NOT THE FIRST TIME ONLINE POKER IS TARGETED
This is not the first time Finnish government officials have eyed the revenues generated by online poker.
This past January, Finland’s culture and sport minister Stefan Wallin claimed that the government should run an online poker service to bring the revenues earned by foreign operators back to Finland.
His proposal was in direct contrast to a proposal that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health had put forth a week earlier to enable Internet gamblers to claim back their losses by being paid by either the firm providing the online poker services, a credit card company, or the winning player in the game. The move would effectively deter most foreign operators, since they would not wish to operated in a country requiring such refunds, leaving an effective Finnish state online poker monopoly.
Qld Govt halts new poker machine distribution
The Queensland Government says an immediate freeze on the release of new poker machines will help reduce problem gambling.
The Premier says no new pokies will be distributed to clubs and pubs for an 
initial two-year period.
Anna Bligh says Queensland has more poker machines per person than any other state or territory and the cap will bring it into line with the national average.
“This will in effect hold up to 2,000 poker machines that would have otherwise been going out to clubs and pubs while we just slow the whole thing down,” she said.
The group representing Queensland clubs says many venues will suffer because of an immediate freeze on new poker machines.
Clubs Queensland chief executive Penny Wilson says clubs which have already applied for new machines will be vulnerable.
“It’s going to have quite a severe impact on the clubs that have put in applications,” she said.
“We’ve got some clubs that have had applications in for many months and have gone to great expense to do their community impact statements etcetera.”
TableMAX Brings Player Excitement to the Max at NIGA
The most exciting slot product on the NIGA trade show this year doesn’t look like a slot product at all. In fact, it is so unique and so fun, that it attracts both slot and table players. Now players can get in on the fun, and tribal casinos can get an increase to the bottom line with TableMAX.
The 17th annual NIGA trade show. NIGA takes place April 20-23 at the San Diego Convention Center, and from booth #2131, TableMAX will be showing the proven future of the gaming industry — electronic table games.
TableMAX Vice President of Sales Benjamin Parks said, “Studies and in-casino use have clearly shown that electronic table games are the industry’s next big demand from players, and TableMAX has the products to satisfy that demand. TableMAX delivers the table gaming experience but with the convenience and labor savings of dealerless, automatic table games, meaning instant cost savings in labor and supplies.”
Additionally, TableMAX has added excitement of established table content with global rights to popular table games — Progressive Blackjack(TM), Caribbean Stud(R) Poker, Caribbean Draw(R) Poker, Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus Poker and Bonus Blackjack. TableMAX adds even more exhilaration with wide area progressives for players to play longer and more frequently.
Best of all, the tables consume 20 percent less square footage per gaming position than a comparable number of slot machine positions. The TableMAX five-player games are configurable, which allows operators a variety of set up options, encouraging players to take full advantage of a fun, easy and relaxed community gaming style.
TableMAX Holdings LLC is a leading developer of electronic table games and designs, engineers and distributes patented electronic table games worldwide. TableMAX owns global rights to proven and popular table game content, including Progressive Blackjack(TM), Caribbean Stud(R) poker, Caribbean Draw(R) poker, Texas Hold ‘Em Bonus Poker and Bonus Blackjack.
Poker players fold ‘em
The first wave of card players charged in a recent high-stakes poker roundup pleaded guilty Monday, but another legal battle might be brewing over as much as $90,000 worth of cash and belongings seized during the investigation.
Martin Orlando Reyes, whose Hanahan home was raided by sheriff’s deputies April 4, was one of 19 people to plead guilty in Charleston County magistrate court to one misdemeanor count of unlawful gaming. In exchange, authorities agreed to dismiss additional counts against them. Magistrate David Coker ordered most to pay fines of between $154 and $257. Some 46 others still await a court date in the case.
Outspoken poker advocate Bob Chimento was the only person Monday to request a jury trial. Chimento is one of five people still awaiting trial on charges in a 2006 Mount Pleasant poker raid as well. He hopes his tribulations will generate support for changing a 200-year-old state law that bars games of cards and dice.
Reyes also supports a change, but he said he wanted to take responsibility for his actions and accept the consequences.
Still, his attorney, Mark Peper, said Reyes likely will fight a similar gambling charge pending in Hanahan in an effort to recover a host of items deputies seized from his house during the raid.
Sheriff’s deputies said Monday that about $62,000 was seized that night, about $20,000 more than had previously been reported.
Peper said about $20,000 of that money came from Reyes’ personal safe. Investigators also grabbed nearly $30,000 worth of furniture, electronics, picture frames and personal mementos Reyes had received from his wife, he said.
Peper said authorities want to keep the cash and property, arguing that those items are the fruits of an illicit enterprise. Reyes insists the seized items had nothing to do with the poker games he hosted, and he wants them back.
Peper, who represents several defendants in the case, said some of his other clients also lost big that night. Deputies seized $1,600 from the pocket of one player who is a landlord. The man had just collected the money from tenants and needed it to pay a mortgage. Another man, a store owner, lost business proceeds he was planning to deposit in a bank, he said.
Sheriff’s Maj. John Clark said authorities are still sorting through the items seized to determine their value as evidence, and he could not comment on what, if any, property and cash might be returned in the end.
Peper said Reyes and other players can contest any seizures of assets in civil court, but a guilty plea could complicate those efforts.
The issue is tied to the Hanahan charges because the money and property were seized in connection with illegal activities that were allegedly taking place at Reyes’ home that night. The Charleston County charges settled Monday dealt with other games that took place during the past 10 months at Reyes’ home and three other locations, authorities said.
The group that showed up for court Monday was a cross-section of the community: old and young, black and white, men and women. Some wore suits and ties, others T-shirts and jeans. Some accepted their fate with a somber air; others joked and exchanged handshakes as they waited for court to begin. Had there been some cards around, they could have had a small tournament.
“I’ve got three tables set up out back. Anyone for a game?” quipped player Mark Silverstein as he greeted friends and co-defendants. Then he smiled. “Just for fun, of course.”
Coker moved the proceedings along with assembly-line efficiency, with each case taking but a few minutes to settle. The guilty had all shared a card table during the past year with a confidential informant working with investigators. Those games were captured on audio and videotapes, authorities revealed.
Some players had faced as many as eight counts of illegal gambling, so the chance to plead guilty to just one was an attractive option. By limiting the damage to a single misdemeanor count, they will be able to apply to have the charge expunged from their records in three years, attorneys said.
The penalties basically worked out this way: Those who had originally faced multiple charges received a $257 fine, while those who had started out with a single charge got the lower fine of $154.
Silverstein, hit with the higher amount, said the entire affair had been blown out of proportion. But he said he saw little to be gained by fighting the charge, which would necessitate even more court appearances.
“Once was enough for me. I’ll go get it expunged,” he said. “I just don’t feel like the taxpayers’ money was spent well on all this.”
Reyes had a similar take on the episode, which he hopes will persuade lawmakers to legalize poker.
A number of others, including former 1st Circuit Deputy Solicitor Don Sorenson and Charleston police Cpl. Michael McElveen, are still awaiting their day in court. Of the 65 suspects identified in the case, deputies have arrested all but 11, Clark said.