Nebraska State Senator introduces poker legislation

The US state of Nebraska is approaching a new attitude towards poker. The online poker market is struggling to create a nation-wide network, only due to some states that prefer live games rather online poker rooms. Some other states have illegalized and criminalized poker in any playable way. The Cornhusker State, Nebraska, seems to have turn around as is considering the legislation of the poker according to the Lincoln Journal Star. Nebraska State Senator Tyson Larson and state lawmakers are all now looking to open the doors of the state’s poker rooms. Nebraska State Senator Tyson Larson has introduced a bill that could make poker games legal in the Cornhusker State. The legislation, which has been introduced to Nebraska last week, states that Draw and Hold’em poker are both games of skill instead of games of chance. In accordance with the Cornhusker State’s laws, neither lawmakers nor the senator would be allowed to receive any earnings from games of chance, the category where both Draw and Hold’em Poker are included.

Nebraska State Senator Tyson Larson has said: “You can be a professional poker player, but you cannot be a professional coin flipper. You can lose a poker game on purpose, but you cannot lose a coin flip on purpose. You can have the worst hand in poker but be the best player. The math is there, the statistics are there…poker is a game of skill (and not) a game of chance. I do not think that there is any one ‘silver bullet’ approach that would provide property tax relief. It is a multi-step approach and I honestly believe that expanding gambling can be a part of that multi-step approach”. On the other hand, the Governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, is one of the antagonist of gaming as well as Pat Loontjer, Executive Director of Gambling with the Good Life, a very well known opponent of gambling who is very close to Nebraska’s governor Pete Rickets. Pat Loontjer said: “These are the same bills they drag up every year. We’re going to fight it no matter what form of expanded gambling it is…we’ve got enough.”