Gaming advisory council: Poker revisions heading for bill draft
Pub Date: 5/1/2006
The newest member of the Gaming Advisory Council, Fred Guardipee of Blackfeet Tribe, representing Native American interests, was introduced at the outset of the April 21 meeting of the council. Then chairman Rep. John Witt led the group headlong into its agenda, commencing with a discussion of updates to live poker statutes and rules.
Gene Huntington, administrator of the Gambling Control Division, noted that the growing popularity of Texas Hold 'Em poker in Montana has necessitated revisions to existing law and rules, especially as they pertain to card game dealer licenses. He said so far this fiscal year the division has attempted to process over 900 dealer license applications.
A live poker subcommittee of the council has been meeting and formulating suggested revisions. It last met in Great Falls in March.
The subcommittee is recommending dealer license fees be increased to $250 for one year or $550 for three years, renewable for another three years at $500. Finger printing costs are to be included in the license fee.
Tournament formats have also been under scrutiny and it was recommended that no changes be made to current prohibitions regarding charities running card tournaments unless they are conducted under the auspices of a licensed entity.
It was also suggested that "progressive" tournaments be allowed to be operated at various licensed premises over time, and that a legitimate prize may be a seat at the World Series of Poker tournament.
The subcommittee further suggested there be no limit as to the number of tournaments a licensee could conduct annually, but to retain the current limit of 60 days as the maximum any licensed business could offer tournaments during a year.
Maximum tournament prizes will continue to be calculated using the current formula with an $800 pot limit. The tournament license fees would be $50 per table up to a maximum of $200. These fees will be split between the GCD and local governments.
The council accepted the proposed revisions and asked Huntington to begin a bill draft for council consideration at their pending July 21 meeting.
The council then took up the matter of video gaming machines that display theoretical payout percentages for each potential betting scenario. Based upon legal opinions from the Department of Justice, the council voted to not seek legislation regulating the practice.
The council decided to pursue legislation to update the statute regulating live bingo games to allow game operators to introduce more flexibility in what constitutes a winning card pattern.
The council next heard from a representative of the Montana Council on Problem Gambling (MCPG) that the group appears to have rectified a pending funding shortfall through the identification of several new sources of private funding.
Consequently the council decided to take no action on a draft proposal by Huntington to seek a legislative appropriation to fund problem gambler treatment (see complete report elsewhere in this edition).
The MCPG provides therapy for compulsive gamblers and training sessions for licensed clinicians who want to conduct compulsive gambler treatment.
Huntington then led a discussion on the legal use of credit cards to obtain cash advances for gambling, suggesting their use for this purpose be restricted.
Industry representatives said they understood the problem and the division's intent, but were unable to see how the proposal could be made to work practically, reminding the council they were "100 percent opposed to any credit gambling." It was pointed out customers may get a credit card cash advance, pay for lunch and a round of drinks, then leave with the balance of the cash, having not gambled at all.
Huntington was asked to further explore the concept to see if there was some way to stem abuses but that also recognized the realities of business/customer transaction.
Huntington reported that excellent progress is being made in the decade-long attempt to develop an automated method of reporting video gaming machine activity for the purposes of accounting, tax payment and machine permitting.
He said an "industry roundtable" has been valuable in working through the issues surrounding the system's development and its actual application in the field. He said the group has zeroed in on several key points:
The proposed three-tiered system of reporting where operators choose which level of reporting sophistication they will adopt, perhaps being reduced to just two tiers.
Assigning life-time identity tags to machines so actual permit stickers could be eliminated.
Allow route operators to act on behalf of location owners to facilitate automated permitting.
Establish time-lines for reporting and tax payments.
Develop a spread sheet which operators could use to upload machine data directly to the division web-site.
Huntington said he thought the testing of some accounting systems could begin in June of this year'; that testing of the automated permitting process could begin by August, that tax reporting testing could start in October with actual reporting beginning for select operators as early as January of 2007 and with license renewal and applications available on-line by May of 2007.
A new rules draft was presented that would establish definitions, specifications and the actual process required to begin automated licensing and testing. Huntington said a second set of rules would be required to define record-keeping requirements and procedures to file taxes automatically.
Deanne Sandholm, conducting tribal/state gaming compact negotiations for the Governor's office, told the council the Chippewa-Cree of the Rocky Boy's Reservation had negotiated a compact amendment last fall that allowed the tribe to offer $1,500 payout on Class III games and to operate up to 300 devices.
She said the Assiniboine-Sioux of the Ft. Peck Reservation and the Crow Tribe have compacts in place and no negotiations are underway or pending. The Northern Cheyenne are currently negotiating an updated compact with the current one set to expire in June of 2007.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation are also in negotiations, Sandholm said, and have had one meeting at which the tribe made "a fairly strong request." The tribe, according to Sandholm, is seeking "complete jurisdiction over Class III gaming" including, apparently, non-tribal licensees, and is asking for no limits on the prizes or the types of games offered.
"The Governor has been very clear," said Sandholm, "that he is not for expanded gambling."
The Gros Ventre at Ft. Belknap, currently without a compact, are set to begin negotiations in May and the Blackfeet Tribe has asked for no negotiations and has no compact, Sandholm reported in conclusion.
Council member John Tooke then asked Huntington to render an opinion on the use of shuffling machines in live poker games.
With that, chairman Witt suggested the next meeting of the council occur July 21 in Fort Benton, and promised members an excellent local experience..
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, May, 2006, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.