A state senator from Hawaii has introduced a bill that would legalize some online gaming in Hawaii. It will not, however, allow sports betting.
In 2006, Senator Harry Reid was the backer of the legislation that outlawed online gaming. The bill supported by Harry Reid made it illegal for the credit card companies to process charges for online gaming. It seems, however, that Senator Reid changed his stand in the final year of his tenure as senator from Nevada. After he did an about-face, a number of states studied the idea of allowing online gambling in their own states, thinking of course, in terms of tax revenue. They seem to have realized that the revenue lost to illegal credit card processing for gambling could be going to their own tax coffers, anyway.
Now, a state legislator in Hawaii has taken that to heart, and introduced legislation that would legalize online poker. It would establish a gaming commission in Hawaii, and would provide some tax money to public schools and the university system in Hawaii.
Hawaii is not the only state to have online gaming as a consideration for the year’s legislation. Several other bills have been introduced in other states to allow gaming systems. They see it as a welcome addition to the government tax coffers, since people are going online and betting illegally at international casinos, anyway, to the tune of billions of dollars being spent.
The new Hawaii bill would allow Hawaii’s online game players to join other states’ players in online game areas, and would establish “land-based events,” whatever that might mean.
The age limit for online gaming would be 19 years old; however, it is not noted how that would be enforced, if at all.
Most states in the US have some form of gambling casinos, whether they are legal by the state code, or are Native American reservation casinos, which are outside the bounds of states’ laws. Hawaii has none of these, and it is thought that the idea of allowing gaming in Hawaii would increase the state’s tax revenue tremendously.
Hawaii is losing money to illegal online casino gambling to the tune of millions of dollars per year. This would be one great way for Hawaii to recoup that money, and turn it into much-needed tax revenue.