By Gene Huntington, Administrator
The Gambling Control Division
Changes in Card Game laws and rules are coming July 1.
The Governor has signed House Bill 190 to make changes in the way card games are played. The legislation was the result of 18 months of deliberations by the Gaming Advisory Council.
House Bill 190 has an immediate effective date, so as of July 1, 2007 the way card dealers and card tournaments are licensed will see some changes. The Gambling Control Division is currently developing rules to implement the legislative changes.
Some of the changes that will take effect on July 1, 2007 include:
--Temporary dealer licenses will only be available to dealer applicants who have an immediate prospect of employment. Other dealer applicants will need to wait until their application is approved by the Gambling Control Division before they can receive a dealer' license.
Those dealers with an immediate prospect of employment will need to obtain the temporary license from one of the Gambling Control Division field offices. The Division is working to put in place a process that will allow those in need of a temporary license to get the application materials at a driver licensing station and to take the completed application to a Gambling Control Division office to obtain the temporary license the same day.
This change is a result of the growing problem of applicants getting the temporary license and never submitting the application materials.
--Social card games will no longer require a license from the Gambling Control Division. Card games like pinochle, pitch and cribbage will no longer require licensed card tables.
Any gambling operator offering poker or pan will still need to get licenses for any table where these games might be played.
--Poker tournament statutes and rules will change to allow the type of progressive tournaments that have become popular on television.
Changes include clearly allowing multiple location progressive tournaments with a top prize of a trip to a national poker tournament. Another change will be the elimination of the calculation of total payout on tournament applications, which will be replaced with a $2,500 cap on total buy-in.
The card game legislation also provided guidelines for licensed gambling operators who offer charitable poker tournaments.
Other changes in the card game laws provide clear authority for the Gambling Control Division to regulate house players, makes clear that a poker tournament cannot be part of a casino night and adds credit gambling warnings to the information that must be posted in card rooms.
Anyone planning poker tournaments this summer needs to get familiar with these changes.
In particular, licensed card rooms and card room contractors need to be aware of the requirements for temporary dealer' licenses in order to ensure that prospective dealers can be licensed prior to the planned tournaments.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, May. 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.