{"id":46476,"date":"2017-03-09T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T23:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=46476"},"modified":"2017-03-09T12:12:35","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T20:12:35","slug":"michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Online Gambling Bill Clears Senate Committee But a Third of Tribes are Opposed"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b><\/i>Michigan\u2019s online gambling bill was approved 7-1 to at a hearing of the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee on Wednesday and will proceed to the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

This should come as little surprise, however, since six of the committee\u2019s nine members co-sponsored the bill.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Senator Mike Kowall’s online gambling bill may need a little more work. In fact, many are doubtful whether it is possible to marry the complex differences between commercial and Indian gaming in one piece of legislation. (Image: michiganradio.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wednesday\u2019s hearing was populated with many of the witnesses who had testified at the Pennsylvania hearing of the previous day, including the same people from Amaya<\/a>, the Poker Players Alliance, the Inovation Group and the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling.<\/p>\n

But the absence of\u00a0any of the potential stakeholders in a future Michigan market was conspicuous, most notably the state\u2019s 12 tribal operators, whose support for the legislation would seem to be crucial to its success.<\/p>\n

Stakeholders Say \u201cMeh\u201d<\/b><\/h2>\n

Four of the gaming tribes expressed outright opposition to the bill in an official notice to the committee, while others expressed neutral positions. The state\u2019s three commercial gaming operators, MGM<\/a>, Detroit Entertainment and Greektown Casino, also expressed neutral positions.<\/p>\n

Senator Senator Mike Kowall\u2019s (R-15th) legislation would permit only commercial casino operators and federally recognized tribes already conducting gaming operations to apply for licenses.<\/p>\n

\n

But the problem is, that the Indian Gaming Regulation Act 1988 prohibits states from taxing tribes on their gambling operations, beyond regulation costs.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But taxation is the Kowall bill\u2019s raison d’\u00eatre, which means that in order to participate (and be taxed) in an online gambling market, the tribes would essentially be giving up their hard-won sovereign tax immunity and become commercial gaming enterprises.<\/p>\n

Taxations for the Nations<\/b><\/h2>\n

The tribes who refuse to do this will likely claim that, by legalizing online gambling, Michigan has voided its compact with them, which could allow them to withhold their revenue-share payments to the state and perhaps even to offer tax-free online gambling from within their reservations. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Many believe that the attempt to marry tribal and commercial gaming in one piece of legislation is too ambitious and is likely to leave Michigan with a massive legal headache.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even the lobbyist from the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, Bill Jackson, was talking sense when he said: \u201cThis legislation is rife with problems on a legal front and is not ready to become law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill, as it stands, would tax commercial operators at an industry-friendly 10 percent. It suggests tribal operators would agree a \u201crevenue-sharing\u201d deal of 10 percent, too, which is to all intents and purposes a tax, and probably a violation of IGRA.<\/p>\n

Kowall\u2019s bill may have received a ringing endorsement from the committee on which he sits this week, but the verdict from stakeholders was underwhelming to say the least. Michigan\u2019s lawmakers still have a lot to do before its online gambling bill has any hope of becoming law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan\u2019s online gambling bill was approved 7-1 to at a hearing of the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee on Wednesday and will proceed to the Senate floor. This should come as little surprise, however, since six of the committee\u2019s nine members co-sponsored the bill. Wednesday\u2019s hearing was populated with many of the witnesses who had testified […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":46477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,19,60,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichigan Online Gambling Bill Clears Senate Committee But a Third of Tribes are Opposed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Michigan online gambling bill heads to the Senate floor but stakeholders are at best neutral and many are outright opposed.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michigan Online Gambling Bill Clears Senate Committee But a Third of Tribes are Opposed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Michigan online gambling bill heads to the Senate floor but stakeholders are at best neutral and many are outright opposed.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-09T23:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-09T20:12:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mikekowall_statesenate-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"653\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/\",\"name\":\"Michigan Online Gambling Bill Clears Senate Committee But a Third of Tribes are Opposed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mikekowall_statesenate-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-09T23:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-09T20:12:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The Michigan online gambling bill heads to the Senate floor but stakeholders are at best neutral and many are outright opposed.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/michigan-online-gambling-bill-clears-senate-committee-but-a-third-of-tribes-are-opposed\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mikekowall_statesenate-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mikekowall_statesenate-1.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":653,\"caption\":\"State Senator Mike Kowall online gambling bill may need a little more work. 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