STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1631--A 2015-2016 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 13, 2015 ___________ Introduced by Sens. BONACIC, O'MARA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering -- recommitted to the Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favora- bly from said committee and committed to the Committee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee 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: 1 Section 1. Section 185 of the general municipal law, as amended by 2 chapter 574 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 185. Short title; purpose of article. This article shall be known 4 and may be cited as the games of chance licensing law. The legislature 5 hereby declares that the raising of funds for the promotion of bona fide 6 charitable, educational, scientific, health, religious and patriotic 7 causes and undertakings, where the beneficiaries are undetermined, is in 8 the public interest. It hereby finds that, as conducted prior to the 9 enactment of this article, games of chance were the subject of exploita- 10 tion by professional gamblers, promoters, and commercial interests, and 11 it finds further that tournaments of the various games of poker as 12 offered by authorized organizations pursuant to subdivision two of 13 section nine of article I of the New York state constitution, should be 14 regulated under this article. It is hereby declared to be the policy of 15 the legislature that all phases of the supervision, licensing and regu- 16 lation of games of chance and of the conduct of games of chance, should 17 be closely controlled and that the laws and regulations pertaining ther- 18 eto should be strictly construed and rigidly enforced; that the conduct 19 of the game and all attendant activities should be so regulated and 20 adequate controls so instituted as to discourage commercialization of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03321-02-6