Barely a month after it was introduced to the Michigan Senate by Sen. Mike Kowall (see previous report) online poker legalisation measure SB889 is to be the subject of a hearing in the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee tomorrow (Wednesday May 4).
The bill has a good chance of making progress, considering that five of the nine committee members have already signed up to it as sponsors, according to the Poker Players Alliance, which is actively promoting the intrastate measure.
SB889 provides for online poker and casino licensing and regulations for operations controlled by the state’s existing land licence holders, and limits the number of licenses to just eight. Licenses will have a five year duration and there will be a $5 million upfront fee which may be claimed as an advance on taxes, which it is proposed will be at a rate of 10 percent of GGR.
State lawmakers tend to be progressive, as is evidenced by their approval of online lottery activity which made Michigan the first in the USA with this product.
The state’s land casinos – both commercial and tribal – have been experiencing declining revenues in recent times, giving operators an incentive to support the bill in order to generate revenues from a more diverse demographic.