S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4967
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 9, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. CUSICK -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Racing 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 ONE 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
 regulation of games of chance and of the conduct  of  games  of  chance,
 should  be closely controlled and that the laws and regulations pertain-
 ing thereto 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 prem-
 ises 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  justi-
 fication  for  this  article is to foster and support such worthy causes
 and undertakings, 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
              

 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01882-01-1

 A. 4967                             2
 
 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. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of  section  189  of  the  general
 municipal  law, as amended by section 11 of part MM of chapter 59 of the
 laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   (a) 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, and for bell jar, no single prize
 shall exceed the sum or value of one thousand dollars.

 A. 4967                             3
 
   §  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.  Subdivision 1 of section 195-d of the general municipal law, as
 amended by section 13 of part MM of chapter 59 of the laws of  2017,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   1.  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 minimum fee.  NO
 MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS SHALL BE CHARGED AS AN ADMISSION 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 ORGANIZA-
 TION, SUBJECT TO THE  PROVISIONS  OF  SUBDIVISION  SIX  OF  SECTION  ONE
 HUNDRED EIGHTY-SIX OF THIS ARTICLE.
   § 8. Section 195-e of the general municipal law, as amended by section
 14  of  part MM of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, 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, through the internet  or
 television  as  may  be  regulated  by  the rules and regulations of the
 commission. When an organization is licensed or  authorized  to  conduct
 games of chance on the 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.  Additional  signs may be
 displayed upon any firefighting or ambulance equipment belonging to  any
 licensed  authorized  organization  that  is  a  volunteer fire company,
 volunteer ambulance corps or upon any equipment of a first aid or rescue
 squad in and throughout the community  served  by  such  volunteer  fire
 company, volunteer ambulance corps 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 organization conducting such
 games, the license number of the authorized organization as assigned  by
 the  clerk  or department, the prizes offered 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. Effective immediately, the addition,  amend-
 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
 tation  of  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
 completed on or before such effective date.