New Hampshire Governor Considers Legalizing Internet Gambling

With the state budget stretched and deficits building, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch is looking for ways to provide a much needed revenue injection for the Granite State. One way avenue he is considering, according to The Nashua Telegraph, is legalizing internet gambling, including online poker.

“The governor is working on developing a comprehensive strategy to address the revenue shortfall,” spokesman Colin Manning told the Telegraph. “There are a number of options the governor is looking at.”

Lynch expects to unveil his internet gambling plan within the week and, to this point, no details about it are known. One would assume that a tax would have to be paid by any company that offers online gambling, but even that is pure speculation right now.

Interestingly, the state’s House is currently debating a bill that would permit up to 17,000 slot machines and table games at licensed locations throughout New Hampshire. Lynch has come out in opposition to the bill, which has already passed through the Senate, because it does nothing to halt the proliferation of gambling.

Supporters of the bill are, perhaps understandably, confused as to how Lynch could be concerned with the proliferation of gambling, yet want to make online gambling legal. Former State Senator Bob Clegg said, “The governor is worried about proliferation of gaming, but it sounds like he’s going to make every computer terminal in every home and every BlackBerry — including those BlackBerrys held by kids in high school — a gambling facility.”

It should be noted that Clegg is currently serving as a lobbyist for a golf club that is looking to build a casino and resort in Hudson. He also says that his Hudson facility would create 3,800 jobs, far more than legalized online gambling would create.

State Senator Lou D’Allesandro agrees with Clegg, saying, “I haven’t seen his proposal, but if the governor is afraid of proliferation, what easier way to proliferate it than online gambling. Anytime you get something online, you run the risk of who’s playing, what it involves, the extent of play. We’ve had so many problems with things online.”

New Hampshire would not be the first state to consider legalizing online gambling should Lynch’s plan make any progress. In March, New Jersey Assemblyman John Burzichelli introduced Assembly Bill 2570, which would allow New Jersey casinos to offer internet gambling to the state’s residents. The casinos would have to acquire a license to do so and would be required to adhere to strict regulations. The California and Florida state governments are also considering internet gambling legislation.

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Mixing Drinking And Gambling Rarely A Good Idea

When it comes to perceived vices, drinking and gambling are usually right up there with swearing and prostitution.

But for casino regulars, mixing booze and bets can be a mixed bag.

Many of those who frequent traditional table games say that drinking alcohol clouds judgment to the point of leading to bad decisions that can extend and amplify the house’s edge. (This is why casinos give out drinks for free.)

At the poker table, save for professionals such as Scotty Nguyen - who has developed a reputation for playing while drinking - most players agree, noting that drunkenness at the table inhibits your ability to read opponents, thus negating a powerful and critical part of the game.

In my experiences at casinos, I’ve seen in-game drunkenness work both ways.

This past weekend, for instance, while wagering on March Madness in Las Vegas, I met a man at the blackjack table who was so drunk that he couldn’t place his chips in the betting circle without assistance. (The pit boss chased him off so the guy didn’t end up puking on someone.)

Another guy insisted he became an infinitely better blackjack player when he was drunk, chalking it up to something about the booze tempering his inhibitions to bet big.

Sure enough, the drunker he got, the more he wagered - and won.

In Bay Area cardrooms, most of my observations surrounding players who mix booze and bets have come at the poker table.

One time, a gentleman announced his arrival at the table with a simple, “Folks, I’m wasted.” He proceeded to play blind, without looking at his cards, and push all-in on three consecutive hands. He lost the first two with trash hands to players with smaller stacks.

On the third hand, he got called by the biggest stack at the table, a guy who was practically salivating at the chance to take the drunk’s chips. The big stack flipped over pocket kings - a great hand for the situation. The drinker turned over an ace-nine and won the pot when an ace came on the turn.

During another epic poker session, a different fellow sat for hours at the table without playing a hand. Over the course of 20 cycles around the table, the guy polished off eight or nine beers. Finally, on the button, he decided to play, re-raising two raisers with an all-in.

The drunk eventually lost the hand to a player with ace-king. His hand: 9-6. Later the inebriated guy admitted that he misread the hand, thinking he had a pair of nines.

He blamed his screw-up on the beer.

The lesson here is to be smart. If you choose to drink and gamble, don’t do either to excess.

And if you’re playing against a drunk, remember that Lady Luck rarely discriminates between the sober and the intoxicated, and she might just decide to work against you when you need her most.

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Identifying Poker as a Game of Skill in Massachusetts

Representatives of the Poker Players Alliance spoke in front of a Massachusetts State Legislature committee last week to support a proposed bill that would classify poker as a game of skill.

No state legislature has made such a declaration, though a few district courts across the country have made similar rulings. The PPA sees the skill argument as an important battleground for poker because many jurisdictions’ definitions of gambling depend on whether a game’s results are predominantly due to skill or chance. Having poker declared a skill game would go a long way to ensuring people the right to play poker live and online.

The hearing went well, with PPA Massachusetts state director Randy Castonguay and litigation support director Patrick Fleming presenting their arguments unopposed. Andrew Woods, executive director of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society — which was founded by a Harvard Law School professor — also spoke in favor of the bill.

“I believe if a legislature takes this position, it would be precedent-setting,” Castonguay said. “It would put us on course for victories in other states.”

The presentation went off with little fanfare in front of the Massachusetts State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. It was more than seven hours into the day’s session when the issue was addressed, and most of the representatives had already left for the day. The three witnesses spoke for less than half an hour combined, including questions. Rep. Brian Wallace, who introduced the bill, identified as H4069, missed the hearing because of a family obligation.

That reception might make it seem that the legislation is unlikely to pass, and that is a fair assessment of its chances as a standalone bill. However, the PPA hopes to get the bill attached to a larger bill that would allow for resort-style casinos to be built at existing racetracks in the state.

The casino bill has failed to pass in previous years but appears to have gained some momentum. To show how far poker has come in trying to get a skill-game clause attached to the casino bill, just two years ago the PPA found itself fighting against an attempt to get an addition to the bill making Internet poker illegal.

“If the casino bill passes, I don’t see much opposition to this little blurb of poker being recognized as a skill game as something that would hang up the bill,” Castonguay said. “I don’t think it would be a sticking point to them.”

The PPA sees this as such a key issue that executive director John Pappas plans to join Castonguay in Massachusetts to put the full-court press on key legislatures in the state with a series of meetings beginning Thursday.

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