These days, PokerCollectif spoke you of a bill that Frank Barney had at heart.
The poker is still talk today to the United States. This time, in Hawaii. A new Bill would attempt to make Hawaii du nouveau havre of poker in the United States. Hawaii has had economic difficulties lately and Senators think that poker could help revive the economy of the most recent American States.
They explain: "Hawaii had to fight in recent years to remain competitive with other sunny destinations and politicians must find ways that go beyond traditional methods to attract visitors and increase the visibility of the place. With the economic recession and the unrest in the Middle East, air transport prices are volatile and tend to increase. The recent earthquake and tsunami in the Japan could lead to a decline of 20% of the visitors. We must find new ways to attract visitors from the United States and other places of Asia".
According to them, the fact to organize live poker tournaments would bring benefits to the hotel industry, visibility for Hawaii, taxes, a resurgence in popularity for the location, etc. Television reruns of these tournaments would be promotion for the place.
The problem at the moment is that the State of Hawaii banned the "gambling" such as poker games. The goal would obviously be to change laws to allow the keeping of live tournaments. The aim would not be to make completely legal poker, but rather to better manage events and make legal live tournament approved by the State. The pioneers of the idea have conventional and polemical arguments: "It has been shown that poker is a game of skill between players and not a game of chance, and that therefore it should not be banned under anti-gambling laws in Hawaii". The famous question.
The Bill goes further by suggesting to grant licences to 2 rooms online poker (which PokerStars). These rooms would have the right to operate legally in Hawaii if they perform the annual costs of this license, or 100 M$. The question is whether the market is big enough to recover the cost of such a licence for a poker room.
Could poker really help to relaunch the economy of Hawaii? If Yes, what will be the impact on other States?
Discuss this news on PokerCollectif forums: Hawaii: Poker to revive the economy
