Card Player – A bill (Senate Bill 0878) favorable to charity poker operations passed the Michigan Senate last week. It now moves into the House for consideration. As MLive.com reports, the measure would allow charity gaming operations to do business 365 days a year. The bill would be better for the charities than what is currently being planned by the state Gaming Control Board, which is looking to implement stricter rules next month.
Basically, it’s a race to try to stop the Board’s rules before they go into effect. Michigan regulators have been giving charity poker and blackjack a hard look for a few years now, after, according to them, the charitable gaming operations experienced some problems. Supporters of the rooms say that they greatly benefit people within the state.
“The profitability of the events will be maintained with Sen. Jones’ bill while also providing increased oversight that the Gaming Control Board has been saying that they need,” Jean Kordenbrock, manager of the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association, said.
A moratorium on new charity poker rooms reportedly is expected to be lifted, regardless of whether the Board’s rules go into effect or the legislation passes and overrides it. Right now the state has around 30 of them, down more than 20 since 2011.
