What Happened to New York Online Poker?

NEW YORK ONLINE POKER NOW?
 
With daily fantasy sports now legalised, online poker has been left out in the cold again.
 
The dramatic news over the weekend that daily fantasy sports had been legalised in a last-gasp legislative effort in New York focuses the spotlight on internet poker, which passed in the state Senate but did not make it through the Assembly due an inability by proposer Rep. Gary Pretlow to garner sufficient support.
 
In fairness, Pretlow had warned earlier this month that he was struggling to get the support his online poker bill needed as he fought to get DFS and online poker approved by the Assembly.
 
So it’s back to the drawing board for  the vertical in New York despite a positive 53 vs. 5 state Senate vote, the support of the Poker Players Alliance and Pokerstars, which tried to mobilise players to pressure their political representatives, the racetrack industry and the giant land operator MGM Resorts International, which publicly voiced its support as the Assembly raced toward a legislative deadline late last week.
 
The vigorous and determined effort of the daily fantasy sports sector in successfully lobbying for legalization perhaps illustrated the value and strength of a highly organised and unified approach by leaders in that vertical.
 
They managed to achieve more in a year than the online poker sector has been able to in a decade, although there are undoubtedly still challenges ahead for DFS, particularly in the United States where individual states are deciding individually whether to regulate and licence the activity or not.
 
Hopefully Rep. Pretlow and his colleagues in the state Senate and Assembly will already be planning another run at legalization in the next session of the New York legislature…and the online poker industry can present a more united front.