GAC discusses 'chilling' internet threat
By Paul Tash
Montana Tavern Times
A lively discussion on internet gambling took center stage at the Gaming Advisory Council meeting Nov. 29 in Helena.
The discussion took place at the request of Gambling Control Division Administrator Rick Ask, who said internet gambling is becoming a “major topic” for his department.
“We know it's out there” and that it's adversely affecting the state's “legal gaming,” he said, by impacting gaming machine play at Montana taverns and casinos.
He said both federal and state law prohibits internet gambling for the most part, but it remains a popular activity throughout the country. And it's nearly impossible to stop.
Ask supplied Council members with several handouts regarding internet gambling, including information on four federal bills now before Congress that look in some way to legalize internet gambling.
After a review of the pending federal legislation by assistant Atty. Gen. Cregg Coughlin, Ask then asked for comment from the Council, saying he's “looking for ideas” on what to do about it.
“All these (federal bills) are going to be bad,” Council member John Tooke said. “Some are going to be worse than others. It's chilling.”
Ask mentioned efforts by other states and jurisdictions that are working toward, or at least preparing for, legalized internet gambling in some capacity.
Nevada, he said, has been “very aggressive” in preparing for internet gambling by “approving relationships” between internet providers and Nevada casinos pending federal legislation legalizing the activity.
California is pondering “intra-state” internet gambling (only within the state and only to state residents), while Washington, D.C., is mulling internet poker specifically at “hot spot” locations in hotels, bars and clubs, he said.
Peterson asked for any “anecdotal evidence” of impacts to local gaming operations.
Tooke responded that he knows of college students who gamble regularly on the internet, with one winning a pot of $60,000.
“How do we compete with that?” he asked.
College-age students “are perfect customers” for online gambling, he said, because they've grown up in a computer-based world and have “an unbelievable capacity” for understanding the internet environment.
On the flip side, Tooke recounted that he knows a poker player in his 60s who quit playing local card games because he couldn't smoke while playing anymore. He now plays internet poker regularly at home, Tooke said, where “there's always a game.”
Council member Steve Morris said the internet gambling question is “vast.”
“This discussion is great,” he said, “but I don't know how we're going to get our arms around this.”
Council member Jed Fitch wondered if a marketing effort, similar to the statewide “buckle-up” seat-belt campaign, to increase public awareness that internet gambling is illegal might help.
Council member Tim Carson said the push for line games in the recent Legislature was in part a response to the spike in internet gaming in October 2009 when the smoking ban went into effect. One of the arguments for approval of line games, he said, was to provide “new content” for Montana's game players to entice them to play in a regulated Montana bar or casino and not illegally on the internet.
Though no decisions were made, Ask said his department would continue to monitor the national internet gambling situation and provide regular updates to the Council.
In other business, the Council received an initial proposal from a subcommittee charged with developing recommendations on revamping card tournament rules.
The seven-point proposal is a preliminary attempt to “modernize Montana's statute regarding card tournaments,” said Tooke, who is chairman of the subcommittee.
He said Florida is an example of what can be accomplished. That state, he said, revised and relaxed its rules significantly and then was able to develop “a vibrant poker environment.”
In addition, he said, it's a way to change Montana's business environment to compete with internet gambling, he said.
“There are a lot of people playing on the internet already,” he said. “We need to get them back into our brick-and-mortar joints.”
Many of the card tournament rules “don't make a lot of sense,” said Fitch, who is on the subcommittee. He called for changing rules to promote more and shorter tournaments (single-day tournaments over multi-day tournaments).
The preliminary card-tournament proposal would:
• Remove the limit of 12 live card tournaments per year;
• Remove the application process and $10 fee for each card tournament and replace it with an annual $120 fee for locations to offer tournaments;
• Remove the restriction that each tournament may last for no more than five consecutive days;
• Remove the restriction that seven days must lapse between tournaments;
• Allow cash-outs during tournaments;
• Reference Tournament Director Association (TDA) rules;
• And allow card tournaments to be part of Casino Nights.
The subcommittee also discussed the possibility of increasing the pot limit from the current $300, Tooke said, which has been in effect for about 30 years.
The subcommittee will continue to work on the proposal, he said, and will have a formal recommendation to the Gaming Advisory Council by its May 2012 meeting.
Administrator Ask requested that his department be updated throughout the process so that any proposed rule changes can be reviewed by the Attorney General's office, which will need to approve any card-game changes.
The Council set its next meeting for Friday, March 2, in Helena at the Gambling Control Division.