Will Florida be the First State to Legalize Online Poker?

While extensive focus was on the legislative ratification of the gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe and an omnibus gaming reform bill to help Florida's ailing pari-mutuel industry, Florida lawmakers quietly tucked a measure into an unrelated regulatory bill which could pave the way for Florida to become the first state to embrace internet poker for its citizens.


House bill 425, which passed the Florida Legislature by overwhelming margins, contains a provision which requires the legislature's policy research arm to complete a study into the effects of internet poker on Florida's bricks and mortar poker rooms. The measure pushed by lobbyists representing American Poker Ventures, LLC. requires the policy arm to report by December 1 "regarding the enactment of laws to provide for protection and remedies from existing and unregulated online poker activities."