Legislators in the state of Massachusetts have added an amendment to their budget plans which would allow for intrastate poker options via the internet. The new amendment would allow only three online poker rooms in the state and coincides with a recent plan the state adopted to try and offer online poker operations via the state lottery.
The new amendment also has rules that may keep some operators from offering their products. There will be large licensing fees for companies what want to offer online poker options as well as fines for the sites that choose to act in what the state is calling ‘bad faith’.
The new amendment has a ‘bad actor’ clause which will prohibit any company from taking onlne wagers from US players after October 13th, 2006. This date is the exact date the UIGEA was made a law. This means that any operator that offered services after this date will not be allowed to offer services in the state.
Another part of the amendment states that assets are included as well. This includes software for online poker rooms that were used during that time frame in the United States. The above mentioned licensing fees could be as high as $10 million and this amount would be credited toward gaming revenue fees which would be paid to the state during the first two years the company is in operation. Once the amount is paid, the company would then have to pay monthly fees, of which the amount has yet to be set.
The operator in the state will have thirty days to pay the fee after the license is issued. If the company does not begin operations during that time they could face a hefty fine of $25 million which would is considered acting in bad faith by the state for delaying the commencement of the online gambling options.