New York state senate approves budget with online poker plan

New York’s state Senate has approved a budget proposal that includes language to regulate online poker, but it’s anybody’s guess whether poker will end up in the final version that lands on the governor’s desk.

On Wednesday, the New York Senate and Assembly both passed their respective budget proposals, setting the stage for a marathon round of haggling to resolve differences between the two budgets, as well as incorporating the wishes of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, by the state’s April 1 deadline.

Legislators are expected to begin committee work on Monday to harmonize the three competing visions. Both the Senate and Assembly introduced bills this year to regulate intrastate online poker but only the Senate budget plan contains online poker language. And it’s worth noting that the Senate also included poker in its 2016 budget, only to eventually remove the poker component from the final text.

The Senate has traditionally been an easier sell on online poker, having approved a poker bill by a 53-5 margin in the 2016 legislative session. That bill failed to advance when the Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow opted not to introduce a companion bill based on his belief that poker lacked sufficient support in the Assembly.