Florida ups the poker ante

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FLORIDA UPS THE POKER ANTE

Maximum betting limits raised in the sunshine state

Unless Florida governor Crist vetos it (an extremely unlikely occurrence) Florida poker players will be able to up their bets from July 1 following passage of a bill through the Florida House and Senate that raises the maximum betting limits in the state.

While poker has been legal in Florida, the maximum betting limit had been set at $2, with a maximum of three raises in any betting round. The pending law has raised the betting limit to $5.

The new law also allows no-limit Texas Hold'em, providing the required buy-in is no more than $100. A provision for tournament poker is expressly defined, allowing buy-ins (including rebuys) not to exceed ten times what a participant could potentially wager in one hand on non-tournament poker.

Legislators considered expanding cardroom hours to 24 a day, but the operational hours were ultimately left at 12 hours per day. However, the new law no longer specifies the hours of operation, originally set at noon to midnight. It also allows pari-mutuel cardrooms to operate on any day; previously pari-mutuel cardrooms could only operate when wagering was opened for pari-mutuel events. Predictably, licensing fees for cardrooms were also increased.

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FLORIDA POKER LEGISLATION BECOMES LAW BY DEFAULT

Governor Crist fails to sign

Two months ago Florida state House and Senate lawmakers approved Bill 752 which permits casinos in the state to raise stakes offered in poker ring games and tournaments and allows more flexibility to operators (see previous InfoPowa report). The bill went to the governor's office for consideration, but apparently Governor Charlie Crist declined to sign it.

State procedures require that the governor either sign a bill into law or exercise a veto, and if it remains unsigned without a veto a bill automatically passes into law after a designated period. And this is apparently what happened, according to a notice on the Florida House of Representatives website which informs the public that SB 752 "Became Law without Governor's Signature" this week and will come into effect on July 1.

Florida is a reasonably enlightened state where poker has been legal for some time, although with restricted betting limits. In 1996, legislation was passed allowing cardrooms to spread poker games with a $10 maximum pot per hand, and in 2003 new legislation was passed eliminating the $10-per-hand rule, but introducing a new maximum of $2 per betting round.

The new law allows single bet limits to be raised to $5, and permits no-limit Texas Hold'em games with a maximum buy-in of $100. Tournaments may be offered with increased buy-ins, and cardrooms have more latitude in scheduling hours of operation within a maximum of 12 hours action per day. Another liberating feature is that cardrooms associated with live racing are now allowed to open even when racing is not being offered.