Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Kurd
so wait... did they just change the play age to 21 now?
No. Here is a summary of the changes which will take effect July 1, 2010:
1. Uncapped Poker: there will no longer be any limits by law to the amounts for buy-ins, stakes, blinds, limits, bets, etc. Any cardroom will be able to spread any game of poker with any buy-in amount, any blinds, any stakes, at their discretion. This includes limit, spread limit, pot limit and no limit for any poker game. There will also be no limits by law to tournament buy-in amounts. It will all be at the discretion of each cardroom.
2. Hours: Allowed hours at pari-mutuel cardrooms will be extended to 18/hrs/day weekdays and 24/hrs/day weekends and holidays. A cardroom can choose to have shorter hours. Indian casino poker rooms may continue to operate 24/7/365.
3. Age: Age limit remains at 18+ for all pari-mutuel cardrooms and the Indian casino poker rooms.
This has been passed by both the Florida House and the Florida Senate. It is in the process of being forwarded to the Governor for his signature. He has already stated that he will sign it (and there is zero chance that he won't, imo).
Although the same bill contains the state ratification of the Seminole Compact, which will still have to go through an approval process with the federal government, the changes above for poker will not depend on the Compact being enacted. The poker changes will take effect on July 1, 2010 regardless of what happens to the new Compact at the federal level.
There will be a rulemaking process at the Florida Department of Pari-Mutuel Wagering in regards to regulations for implementation of these changes. I am attempting to become a participant in this process, and will ask for player input here when the time comes.