Poker legalisation bill put forward in New York assembly
| By Zak Thomas-Akoo
New York state assemblyman J Gary Pretlow has introduced a bill that would legalise certain forms of online poker, by classifying them as skill-based games.
House Bill 1380 would seek to regulate legal online poker in the Empire State and has been referred to the racing and wagering committee to review.
The proposed bill would amend New York’s racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law by adding a new section that would redefine online Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hold’em poker, “as well as any other poker game that the commission determines is the material equivalent of either of those” as games of skill rather than luck – therefore legalising the games.
The bill’s logic is similar to the March 2022 New York Court of Appeals ruling that found fantasy sports to be considered a game of skill rather than a game of chance.