Bill Text: NY A07307 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes licensed authorized organizations to conduct certain poker tournaments as licensed games of chance fundraisers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to racing and wagering [A07307 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A07307-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7307 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY April 22, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CUSICK, M. G. MILLER, LAVINE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Racing and Wagering AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to poker tourna- ments The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 185 of the general municipal law, as amended by 2 chapter 574 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 185. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known 4 and may be cited as the games of chance licensing law. The legislature 5 hereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide 6 charitable, educational, scientific, health, religious and patriotic 7 causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are undetermined, is in 8 the public interest. It hereby finds that, as conducted prior to the 9 enactment of this article, games of chance were the subject of exploita- 10 tion by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial interests, and 11 it finds further that tournaments of the various games of poker as 12 offered by authorized organizations pursuant to subdivision two of 13 section nine of article one of the New York state constitution, should 14 be regulated under this article. It is hereby declared to be the policy 15 of the legislature that all phases of the supervision, licensing and 16 regulation of games of chance and of the conduct of games of chance, 17 should be closely controlled and that the laws and regulations pertain- 18 ing thereto should be strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the 19 conduct of the game and all attendant activities should be so regulated 20 and adequate controls so instituted as to discourage commercialization 21 of gambling in all its forms, including the rental of commercial prem- 22 ises for games of chance, and to ensure a maximum availability of the 23 net proceeds of games of chance exclusively for application to the 24 worthy causes and undertakings specified herein; that the only justi- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09323-01-9A. 7307 2 1 fication for this article is to foster and support such worthy causes 2 and undertakings, and that the mandate of section nine of article one of 3 the state constitution, as amended, should be carried out by rigid regu- 4 lations to prevent commercialized gambling, prevent participation by 5 criminal and other undesirable elements and prevent the diversion of 6 funds from the purposes herein authorized. 7 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 186 of the general municipal law, as 8 amended by chapter 531 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as 9 follows: 10 3. "Games of chance" shall mean and include only the games known as 11 "merchandise wheels", "coin boards", "merchandise boards", "seal cards", 12 "event games", "raffles", "poker tournaments" and "bell jars" and such 13 other specific games as may be authorized by the board, in which prizes 14 are awarded on the basis of a designated winning number or numbers, 15 color or colors, symbol or symbols determined by chance, but not includ- 16 ing games commonly known as "bingo or lotto" which are controlled under 17 article fourteen-H of this chapter and also not including "bookmaking", 18 "policy or numbers games" and "lottery" as defined in section 225.00 of 19 the penal law. No game of chance shall involve wagering of money by one 20 player against another player. 21 § 3. Section 186 of the general municipal law is amended by adding a 22 new subdivision 3-f to read as follows: 23 3-f. "Poker tournaments" shall mean and include contests in which 24 participants compete by playing poker games that are approved by the 25 board. Placement in a poker tournament shall be determined by the number 26 of poker chips that are accumulated during the course of play or by the 27 various times that contestants are eliminated from the tournament during 28 the course of play. Poker chips shall be allotted to contestants in 29 accordance with rules that are adopted by the board. 30 § 4. Subdivision 14 of section 186 of the general municipal law, as 31 amended by chapter 531 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as 32 follows: 33 14. "One occasion" shall mean the successive operations of any one 34 single type of game of chance which results in the awarding of a series 35 of prizes amounting to five hundred dollars or four hundred dollars 36 during any one license period, in accordance with the provisions of 37 subdivision eight of section one hundred eighty-nine of this article, as 38 the case may be. For purposes of the game of chance known as a merchan- 39 dise wheel or a raffle, "one occasion" shall mean the successive oper- 40 ations of any one such merchandise wheel or raffle for which the limit 41 on a series of prizes provided by subdivision six of section one hundred 42 eighty-nine of this article shall apply. For purposes of the game of 43 chance known as a bell jar, "one occasion" shall mean the successive 44 operation of any one such bell jar, seal card, event game, coin board, 45 or merchandise board which results in the awarding of a series of prizes 46 amounting to three thousand dollars. For the purposes of the game of 47 chance known as raffle "one occasion" shall mean a calendar year during 48 which successive operations of such game are conducted. For the purpose 49 of poker tournaments, "one occasion" shall mean the period of time from 50 the commencement of such tournament until a winner or winners are deter- 51 mined or a pre-determined time to conclude the tournament has been 52 reached. 53 § 5. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 189 of the general 54 municipal law, as amended by section 11 of part MM of chapter 59 of the 55 laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:A. 7307 3 1 (a) No single prize awarded by games of chance other than raffle or 2 poker tournament shall exceed the sum or value of three hundred dollars, 3 except that for merchandise wheels, no single prize shall exceed the sum 4 or value of two hundred fifty dollars, and for bell jar, no single prize 5 shall exceed the sum or value of one thousand dollars. 6 § 6. Subdivision 8 of section 189 of the general municipal law, as 7 amended by chapter 434 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as 8 follows: 9 8. Except for merchandise wheels [and], raffles and poker tournaments, 10 no series of prizes on any one occasion shall aggregate more than four 11 hundred dollars when the licensed authorized organization conducts five 12 single types of games of chance during any one license period. Except 13 for merchandise wheels, raffles [and], bell jars and poker tournaments, 14 no series of prizes on any one occasion shall aggregate more than five 15 hundred dollars when the licensed authorized organization conducts less 16 than five single types of games of chance, exclusive of merchandise 17 wheels, raffles [and], bell jars and poker tournaments, during any one 18 license period. No authorized organization shall award by raffle prizes 19 with an aggregate value in excess of three million dollars during any 20 one license period. 21 § 7. Subdivision 1 of section 195-d of the general municipal law, as 22 amended by section 13 of part MM of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is 23 amended to read as follows: 24 1. A fee may be charged by any licensee for admission to any game or 25 games of chance conducted under any license issued under this article. 26 The clerk or department may in its discretion fix a minimum fee. No 27 more than one hundred dollars shall be charged as an admission fee to a 28 poker tournament. Fifty percent of such fee shall be applied to a prize 29 or prizes, as may be determined by the authorized organization, and 30 fifty percent of such fee shall be retained by the authorized organiza- 31 tion, subject to the provisions of subdivision six of section one 32 hundred eighty-six of this article. 33 § 8. Section 195-e of the general municipal law, as amended by section 34 14 of part MM of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as 35 follows: 36 § 195-e. Advertising games. A licensee may advertise the conduct of 37 games of chance to the general public by means of newspaper, circular, 38 handbill and poster, and by one sign not exceeding sixty square feet in 39 area, which may be displayed on or adjacent to the premises owned or 40 occupied by a licensed authorized organization, through the internet or 41 television as may be regulated by the rules and regulations of the 42 commission. When an organization is licensed or authorized to conduct 43 games of chance on the premises of an authorized games of chance lessor, 44 one additional such sign may be displayed on or adjacent to the premises 45 in which the games are to be conducted. Additional signs may be 46 displayed upon any firefighting or ambulance equipment belonging to any 47 licensed authorized organization that is a volunteer fire company, 48 volunteer ambulance corps or upon any equipment of a first aid or rescue 49 squad in and throughout the community served by such volunteer fire 50 company, volunteer ambulance corps or such first aid or rescue squad, as 51 the case may be. All advertisements shall be limited to the description 52 of such event as "Games of chance" [or], "Las Vegas Night" or "Poker 53 Tournament", the name of the authorized organization conducting such 54 games, the license number of the authorized organization as assigned by 55 the clerk or department, the prizes offered and the date, location and 56 time of the event.A. 7307 4 1 § 9. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 2 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 3 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen- 4 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 5 completed on or before such effective date.
