by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Mar 21, 2012 | Updated on Mar 21, 2012In a major setback for gambling advocates in the island state, Hawaii’s legislature has declined to act on several bills that would have brought a variety of gambling options to the state – including online poker and other internet gambling games.The online gaming bill, known as House Bill 2422, would have set up an internet lottery and gaming corporation in the state in order to oversee internet gambling. The bill would have created an intrastate gaming network, while also leaving open the possibility of expanding the network to other states if a “legally compliant mechanism” were put into place.Though the bills certainly had opposition in the Hawaiian legislature, the bigger issue may have been general disinterest among lawmakers. None of the three gambling-related bills saw much movement in the House, and all three died without a vote.The failure of these bills to pass means that Hawaii will remain one of just two states in the USA to have absolutely no types of gambling legalized in the state. One of the three bills – House Bill 2316 – would have established a lottery commission, as the state does not yet have a lottery system. Utah is the only other state without any legalized gambling.With the failure of federally-regulated online poker to gain much traction in the United States, online poker advocates had largely pinned their hopes on state governments to legalize and regulate internet gaming.But while Nevada quickly passed regulations and expects to begin offering licenses to operators in the near future, many other states have failed to move forward on similar online poker and gambling bills. Iowa’s online poker plan passed the state’s Senate, but appears to be dead in the House. A similar fate awaited an online poker bill in Mississippi. And while Washington, D.C. was set to be the first jurisdiction in the United States to offer online poker games, that effort was repealed earlier this year.Still, there are several states where online poker could be regulated in the near future. Both California and New Jersey are seriously considering online poker regulations. As for Hawaii, they have planned to study the possible impact of land-based casinos, and may extend that study to look at online gambling as well.
