S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    988
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 6, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  BONACIC,  FUNKE, O'MARA -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on  Racing,
   Gaming and Wagering
 
 AN  ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to poker tourna-
   ments
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.    Section 185 of the general municipal law, as amended by
 chapter 574 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
   § 185. Short title; purpose of article. This article  shall  be  known
 and  may  be cited as the games of chance licensing law. The legislature
 hereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide
 charitable, educational, scientific,  health,  religious  and  patriotic
 causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are undetermined, is in
 the  public  interest.  It  hereby finds that, as conducted prior to the
 enactment of this article, games of chance were the subject of exploita-
 tion by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial interests,  AND
 IT  FINDS  FURTHER  THAT  TOURNAMENTS  OF  THE VARIOUS GAMES OF POKER AS
 OFFERED BY AUTHORIZED  ORGANIZATIONS  PURSUANT  TO  SUBDIVISION  TWO  OF
 SECTION  NINE OF ARTICLE I OF THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION, SHOULD BE
 REGULATED UNDER THIS ARTICLE. It is hereby declared to be the policy  of
 the  legislature that all phases of the supervision, licensing and regu-
 lation of games of chance and of the conduct of games of chance,  should
 be closely controlled and that the laws and regulations pertaining ther-
 eto  should be strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the conduct
 of the game and all attendant activities  should  be  so  regulated  and
 adequate  controls  so  instituted as to discourage commercialization of
 gambling in all its forms, including the rental of  commercial  premises
 for  games  of  chance,  and to ensure a maximum availability of the net
 proceeds of games of chance exclusively for application  to  the  worthy
 causes  and  undertakings  specified herein; that the only justification
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD04897-01-7

 S. 988                              2
 
 for this article is to foster and support such worthy causes and  under-
 takings,  and  that  the  mandate  of section nine of article one of the
 state constitution, as amended, should be carried  out  by  rigid  regu-
 lations  to  prevent  commercialized  gambling, prevent participation by
 criminal and other undesirable elements and  prevent  the  diversion  of
 funds from the purposes herein authorized.
   §  2.  Subdivision  3  of section 186 of the general municipal law, as
 amended by chapter 531 of the laws  of  2011,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   3.  "Games  of  chance" shall mean and include only the games known as
 "merchandise wheels", "coin boards", "merchandise boards", "seal cards",
 "event games", "raffles", "POKER TOURNAMENTS" and "bell jars"  and  such
 other  specific games as may be authorized by the board, in which prizes
 are awarded on the basis of a  designated  winning  number  or  numbers,
 color or colors, symbol or symbols determined by chance, but not includ-
 ing  games commonly known as "bingo or lotto" which are controlled under
 article fourteen-H of this chapter and also not including  "bookmaking",
 "policy  or numbers games" and "lottery" as defined in section 225.00 of
 the penal law. No game of chance shall involve wagering of money by  one
 player against another player.
   §  3.  Section 186 of the general municipal law is amended by adding a
 new subdivision 3-f to read as follows:
   3-F. "POKER TOURNAMENTS" SHALL MEAN  AND  INCLUDE  CONTESTS  IN  WHICH
 PARTICIPANTS  COMPETE  BY  PLAYING  POKER GAMES THAT ARE APPROVED BY THE
 BOARD. PLACEMENT IN A POKER TOURNAMENT SHALL BE DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER
 OF POKER CHIPS THAT ARE ACCUMULATED DURING THE COURSE OF PLAY OR BY  THE
 VARIOUS TIMES THAT CONTESTANTS ARE ELIMINATED FROM THE TOURNAMENT DURING
 THE  COURSE  OF  PLAY.  POKER  CHIPS SHALL BE ALLOTTED TO CONTESTANTS IN
 ACCORDANCE WITH RULES THAT ARE ADOPTED BY THE BOARD.
   § 4. Subdivision 14 of section 186 of the general  municipal  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  531  of  the  laws  of 2011, is amended to read as
 follows:
   14. "One occasion" shall mean the successive  operations  of  any  one
 single  type of game of chance which results in the awarding of a series
 of prizes amounting to five hundred  dollars  or  four  hundred  dollars
 during  any  one  license  period,  in accordance with the provisions of
 subdivision eight of section one hundred eighty-nine of this article, as
 the case may be. For purposes of the game of chance known as a  merchan-
 dise  wheel  or a raffle, "one occasion" shall mean the successive oper-
 ations of any one such merchandise wheel or raffle for which  the  limit
 on a series of prizes provided by subdivision six of section one hundred
 eighty-nine  of  this  article  shall apply. For purposes of the game of
 chance known as a bell jar, "one occasion"  shall  mean  the  successive
 operation  of  any one such bell jar, seal card, event game, coin board,
 or merchandise board which results in the awarding of a series of prizes
 amounting to three thousand dollars. For the purposes  of  the  game  of
 chance  known as raffle "one occasion" shall mean a calendar year during
 which successive operations of such game are conducted.  FOR THE PURPOSE
 OF POKER TOURNAMENTS, "ONE OCCASION" SHALL MEAN THE PERIOD OF TIME  FROM
 THE COMMENCEMENT OF SUCH TOURNAMENT UNTIL A WINNER OR WINNERS ARE DETER-
 MINED  OR  A  PRE-DETERMINED  TIME  TO  CONCLUDE THE TOURNAMENT HAS BEEN
 REACHED.
   § 5. Subdivision 5 of section 189 of the  general  municipal  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  434  of  the  laws  of 2016, is amended to read as
 follows:

 S. 988                              3
 
   5. No single prize awarded by games of chance  other  than  raffle  OR
 POKER TOURNAMENT shall exceed the sum or value of three hundred dollars,
 except that for merchandise wheels, no single prize shall exceed the sum
 or value of two hundred fifty dollars. No single prize awarded by raffle
 shall  exceed  the  sum  or  value of three hundred thousand dollars. No
 single wager shall exceed six dollars and for bell jars, coin boards, or
 merchandise boards, no single prize shall exceed  five  hundred  dollars
 provided, however, that such limitation shall not apply to the amount of
 money or value paid by the participant in a raffle in return for a tick-
 et  or  other receipt. For coin boards and merchandise boards, the value
 of a prize shall be determined by its costs to the authorized  organiza-
 tion or, if donated, its fair market value.
   §  6.  Subdivision  8  of section 189 of the general municipal law, as
 amended by chapter 434 of the laws  of  2016,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   8. Except for merchandise wheels [and], raffles AND POKER TOURNAMENTS,
 no  series  of prizes on any one occasion shall aggregate more than four
 hundred dollars when the licensed authorized organization conducts  five
 single  types  of  games of chance during any one license period. Except
 for merchandise wheels, raffles [and], bell jars AND POKER  TOURNAMENTS,
 no  series  of prizes on any one occasion shall aggregate more than five
 hundred dollars when the licensed authorized organization conducts  less
 than  five  single  types  of  games of chance, exclusive of merchandise
 wheels, raffles [and], bell jars AND POKER TOURNAMENTS, during  any  one
 license  period. No authorized organization shall award by raffle prizes
 with an aggregate value in excess of three million  dollars  during  any
 one license period.
   § 7. Section 195-d of the general municipal law, as amended by chapter
 637 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
   §  195-d.  Charge  for  admission and participation; amount of prizes;
 award of prizes. A fee may be charged by any licensee for  admission  to
 any  game  or  games  of chance conducted under any license issued under
 this article. The clerk or department may in its discretion fix a  mini-
 mum fee.  NO MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS SHALL BE CHARGED AS AN ADMIS-
 SION  FEE  TO  A  POKER  TOURNAMENT.  FIFTY PERCENT OF SUCH FEE SHALL BE
 APPLIED TO A PRIZE OR PRIZES, AS MAY BE  DETERMINED  BY  THE  AUTHORIZED
 ORGANIZATION,  AND  FIFTY  PERCENT  OF SUCH FEE SHALL BE RETAINED BY THE
 AUTHORIZED ORGANIZATION, SUBJECT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION SIX OF
 SECTION ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX OF THIS ARTICLE. With  the  exception  of
 bell  jars,  coin  boards,  seal cards, merchandise boards, and raffles,
 every winner shall be determined and every prize shall  be  awarded  and
 delivered  within  the same calendar day as that upon which the game was
 played. No alcoholic beverage shall be offered or given as  a  prize  in
 any game of chance.
   § 8. Section 195-e of the general municipal law, as amended by chapter
 94 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
   §  195-e.  Advertising  games. A licensee may advertise the conduct of
 games of chance to the general public by means of  newspaper,  circular,
 handbill  and poster, and by one sign not exceeding sixty square feet in
 area, which may be displayed on or adjacent to  the  premises  owned  or
 occupied by a licensed authorized organization, and when an organization
 is  licensed  to  conduct  games  of chance on premises of an authorized
 games of chance lessor, one additional such sign may be displayed on  or
 adjacent  to the premises in which the games are to be conducted.  Addi-
 tional signs may be displayed upon any fire fighting equipment belonging
 to any licensed authorized organization which is a volunteer fire compa-

 S. 988                              4
 
 ny, or upon any equipment of a first aid or rescue squad in and through-
 out the community served by such volunteer fire company  or  such  first
 aid  or  rescue  squad,  as the case may be. All advertisements shall be
 limited to the description of such event as "Games of chance" [or], "Las
 Vegas Night" OR "POKER TOURNAMENT", the name of the authorized organiza-
 tion  conducting such games, the license number of the authorized organ-
 ization as assigned by the clerk or department and  the  date,  location
 and time of the event.
   § 9. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediate-
 ly,  the  addition,  amendment  and/or  repeal of any rule or regulation
 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective  date  are
 authorized  to  be  made  and completed by the state racing and wagering
 board on or before such date.