Home / Poker News April 2009 / House committee passes poker bill
House committee passes poker bill
Posted by: James Carter. - Fri, 2009-04-03 08:15
As the pressure seems to mount on the 2006 UIGEA, a new blow has just been scored by San Antonio Democratic Representative Jose Menendez. In an attempt to legally expand the game of poker in the State of Texas – where
Texas Hold’em, the world’s most popular poker variant is thought to have originated – he managed to push the Poker Gaming Act of 2009 through the House’s Licensing and Administration Procedures Committee.
H.B. 222 represents Jose Menedez’s second attempt to free Texan poker up from under the legal binds it’s currently struggling under. The current legislation has created an environment which promotes violence linked to underground poker games, robberies and all sorts of illegal activities. Menedez’s first bill was meant to tackle those issues, and this bill apparently means to fulfill the same objectives.
Before the Licensing and Administration Procedures Committee passed the bill 6 votes for 3 against, an addendum was made to it. The agreement slapped onto H.B. 222 stipulated that if it were passed into law, local communities would retain their right to vote on whether or not they wanted to legalize poker in specially designated areas in their locations.
Mike Lavigne of the Poker Players Alliance has expressed hope that most Texan communities would indeed vote to allow legal poker back into their folds.
The state would issue special licenses for the establishments where poker is allowed by the communities, which would enable them to collect rake and tournament fees and to host a variety of poker games. These establishments would have to pay fees for the licenses and they would be taxed on the profits obtained from poker.
The Texas Lottery Commission would be one of the State entities which would control the licensing as well as the regulation process, but other state agencies would also be involved.
The bill also aims to create a Poker Gaming Revenue Fund, which would actively contribute to the social services provided by the state to various social groups like the homeless.
Specifics on the buy-in limits and maximum allowed prize sizes are also included in H.B. 222. Having cleared the House’s Licensing and Administration Procedures Committee, Menendez’s bill will be heading to the Texas House of Representatives which will debate it this month.
