Things are picking up a bit of steam in Michigan.

There's a hearing scheduled in the state senate tomorrow (5/4 at 2pm Eastern) for SB 889, which would authorize online poker and casino games.

Cliffs on bill here, text here.

If the hearing is live streamed, it will be available here.

Finally, here's a link to the hearing details.

Source commentary is generally positive, not a ton of opposition to bill, could get a vote from committee in relatively short order.

Things would have to happen pretty quickly tho - leg is out of session for the year in mid-June.

Thanks for sharing in such an organized format.

3 questions:

1). I'm not that familair with laws at the state level. What is the best way for the public to show their support?

2). I did not see any mention of other sites. Do you think there will be any wording in the bill referencing sites like bovada?

3). What are the best case timelines/chain of events here? i.e., in a perfect scenario what are the steps that take us to legality and how fast can that happen?

I feel like michigan is going to be the next legal weed state too. Radical

1) Residents of MI should contact their local reps and voice support for the bill. In person > phone > letter > email > tweet

2) Not sure what you mean.

3) The legislature is only in session until mid-June, so we'd have to see a serious amount of movement in the next few weeks. Getting out of committee and past a floor vote in Senate would be indications that the bill has some legs. But it's also possible that this introduction is just a first step that might set the stage for the next session.

If a bill does zip through (seems tough but not impossible) then you're probably looking at 9-18 months before launch. In theory it could be a bit sooner, but betting on govt expediency is a good way to go broke quick.

michigan has bad roads and poisoned water. bet on this happening on or before October 19th.

Juan time

rofl

Amaya rep is live now.

https://misenate.viebit.com/#9a042c2...c-525ca6a84bea

they sent a social worker who has 25 years experience in field of addiction. great call from PR POV.

So, about two days ago...?

I'm from Michigan anyone know how the hearing went?

PPA Exec.Dir. John Pappas Testimony at MI Senate Hearing for SB 889 (05/04/2016)



entire hour+15min hearing: https://misenate.viebit.com/vod/?v=Xr0bHOCZnWf2&s=true

one time?

Wow, it was nice seeing a very well put together argument for online poker.

Maybe OP could summarize?

The vid in the pic is actually only 15 minutes. He basically showed.. hey.. if I want to play online poker in MI, I can right now. He googled playing poker on his computer and showed he could be playing poker on unregulated sites in a matter of minutes.

So his point was saying your not protecting anyone from gambling online if you don't pass the bill. What you can do is pass the bill and protect them from unregulated sites, which are know to run with players money with Lock poker used as specific example. All while protecting players you also get revenue for the state.

Also used the states that have already legalized it and pointed out they've had no issues with underage gambling and how much in revenue they've made and what not.

That sounds like the argument used for legalizing drugs. Thanks for the summary.

I hope there's an eventual domino effect with state-wide poker. There won't be huge $ in it like before but you could still prob grind out small 6 figures and travel around to diff states. Could be cool.

The rest of the full hearing were Amaya reps.

One explained how well their problem gambling protection and support was.

The other explained how good their AML and KYC protection and tracking is.

and the guy representing the governor said the governor's office is neutral and made some recommendations about things that seemed like they were already in the bill. the 3 downtown casinos left no statement and said they were neutral. they're all acting like nbd but they're freaking out inside because it's a tremendous opportunity for them

So bill passed? Failed? Getting remodeled? What...

There is another hearing regarding this bill in the middle of June.

I read in an article that the month in between hearings is a bad sign for the passing of this bill.

Call Michigan congress people or tweet them. Now is a good time 4 sure.

if YOU are optimistic, I am optimistic

im only worried about big taxation with regulation

I hope this fails. I like playing on bovada when I'm home in Michigan. Dont want state regulated poker cutting my prize pools down and ruining the quality of games. Online pokers great in Michigan right now no need to change it. Not sure why so many think regulated online poker is a good thing.