Massachusetts pro-casino bill would criminalize online gaming
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Buried deep in Massachusetts’ Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed bill to bring casinos to his state are a few lines making internet gambling illegal, and the Poker Players Alliance wants to let you know about it. There’s also a possibly worrisome preamble referrring to the bill as an “emergency law,” which would allow its passage to bypass traditional legislative routes.
The PPA sent an alert to its members in Massachusetts:
“The Poker Players Alliance is committed to assisting Massachusetts poker players by bringing attention to this attack on our rights; however, we cannot do this alone. We need your help and are asking that you send letters to Governor Deval Patrick, your local State Representative and your State Senator.”
The offending text is on page 28:
(i) Placing, sending, transmitting, relaying wagers to another person prohibited under certain circumstances; penalties.
Any person who knowingly transmits or receives a wager of any type by any telecommunication device, including telephone, cellular phone, Internet, local area network, including wireless local networks, or any other similar device or equipment or other medium of communication, or knowingly installs or maintains said device or equipment for the transmission or receipt of wagering information shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 years, or a fine of not more than $25,000, or both.
This section shall apply to any person who, from within this commonwealth, transmits a wager to, or receives a wager from, another person or gaming establishment within or outside of this commonwealth and any person who, from outside this commonwealth, transmits a wager to, or receives a wager from, another person or gaming establishment within this commonwealth.
This section shall not apply to the use of a local area network as a means to place authorized wagers in a licensed gaming establishment, or use of said devices or equipment by the authority in it duties in regulating, enforcing, or auditing a licensed gaming operator.
The “Act Establishing and Regulating Resort Casinos in the Commonwealth” was proposed last month and contains a Preamble stating that
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to provide forthwith for the immediate economic development and revenue needs of the commonwealth, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
An “emergency law,” according to the Massachusetts legislative website, does not have to follow the traditional path from bill to law, but rather:
Laws considered “emergency” in nature take effect immediately upon signing if the legislature has voted to attach an “emergency preamble” to the bill. Adoption of the preamble requires a two-thirds standing vote of the membership.
The governor may also declare an act to be an emergency law and make it effective at once. A special act takes effect thirty days from the day it is signed, unless it contains a provision to make it effective immediately.
