The deputy legal counsel for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Dave Murley, stated during the hearing, “Charitable poker began as a good cause, evolved into a highly lucrative business and has. Lansing, MI 48906 Phone: 517.253.0897 Fax: 517.913.6024 Email: info@micga.org. The CycleFish motorcycle event calendar is the most complete list of motorcycle events in Michigan for 2020 and beyond with 1,000s of motorcycle event listings including motorcycle rallies, biker parties, poker runs, rides, charity and benefit events, motorcycle swap meets, bike shows and more. “Restricting to one charity per day per venue, rather than four, cuts (revenue) by 75 percent. Restricting from seven days to four days a week cuts it down another 40 percent,” said Dane Nickols, treasurer of the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association and a member of the Lions Club in Laingsburg, located between Lansing and Owosso.
By: Sarah Wojcik Shelby - Utica News Published May 12, 2014
Charity Poker Lansing Mi
METRO DETROIT — Now is a tense time among the charitable gaming community.
New rules proposed by the Michigan Gaming Control Board would severely limit the amount and type of business conducted in charity poker lounges.
Charities, room operators and the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association are concerned about revenues decreasing from millionaire parties, while the Michigan Gaming Control Board said it is targeting a rash of crime, fraud, liquor-law violations and unregulated poker rooms acting essentially as casinos.
Millionaire parties are defined as casino-style events in which nonprofit organizations split costs with locations that supply all necessary accommodations.
Currently, three charities are allowed per room per day, operating seven days a week, 365 days per year. Venues receive no more than 50 percent of profits after necessary and reasonable expenses. Two members from the charity are required to be present.
The new rules would allow one charity at a time, up to two per day, to host millionaire parties, operating four times a week, 208 days per year. The venues would make $250 rent, plus the cost of food and beverage sales. Charities also would have to hire their own licensed suppliers for casino equipment and have at least three members present to handle money. Suppliers would receive no more than 45 percent of profits after necessary and reasonable expenses.
Because the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, a bipartisan state legislative committee responsible for the oversight of rules proposed by state agencies, did not vote to approve or deny the new rules, they automatically passed and will go into effect in mid-May unless legislators take action.
“Restricting to one charity per day per venue, rather than four, cuts (revenue) by 75 percent. Restricting from seven days to four days a week cuts it down another 40 percent,” said Dane Nickols, treasurer of the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association and a member of the Lions Club in Laingsburg, located between Lansing and Owosso.
Nickols said his Lions Club made $900 when it conducted its own millionaire party and that it makes about $3,350 at an established venue in Lansing.
He said the money comes in from outside of the community to help those in Laingsburg, which is better than petitioning local businesses and taking money from the community.
Gov. Rick Snyder signed over the regulation of millionaire parties to Michigan Gaming Control Board Executive Director Rick Kalm from the Michigan Bureau of State Lottery’s Charitable Gaming Division in June 2012 to enforce the Bingo Act and cut down on illegal activity.
Kalm said Michigan is the most liberal state, as it pertains to charitable gaming.
Since receiving the order, the MGCB has shut down 22 venues for illegal gambling; 31 locations still function now, Kalm said. He added that he could not name one location that did not have a past violation of the Bingo Act.
“When we first took over, there were 78 or 79. A lot of them consolidated or closed on their own once we started looking at them,” he said. “It was pretty apparent to us the current form was not working at all.”
The largest example of illegal activity in the state, he said, was Snookers’ Poker Room in Utica. He said the owner and manager remotely reduced the amount of chips sold from other locations when sales approached the allowed $15,000 per charity.
He said the Michigan Gaming Control Board conducted an emergency shutdown of the operation by denying charities their licenses, and the prosecutor charged the owner and a manager with misdemeanors. The owner and manager received $500 fines and two months probation on Nov. 26, 2013, for violating the Bingo Act and being unqualified participants in charitable gaming, according to 41-A District Court records.
Kalm said he wants to shift millionaire parties to local bowling alleys, restaurants and bars, because the law specifically outlines that charitable gaming must be a secondary function of locations. At many locations, charitable gaming is their primary source of income.
“One (location) was doing nine charities at $15,000 (chip sales) each, so you can see the scope of how much cash was moving through locations with no background checks, no surveillance, no regulation,” he said. “The monopoly poker rooms have is really what’s causing the problem.”
He added that 14 new suppliers applied to accommodate charities’ needs at community locations, and that the Michigan Gaming Control Board will conduct background checks on all dealers in order to regulate charitable gaming.
Charity Poker In Lansing Michigan
Senate bill 878, which passed unanimously April 24, would alleviate some of the restrictions and allow poker rooms to continue to operate.
At press time, the House Regulatory Reform Committee planned to consider the bill May 14.
“If it comes out of the committee, then it will be up to the House majority leader and House speaker to bring it to the floor,” Nickols said. “We’re concerned, obviously, that there will be some resistance there in not getting it to the floor.”
Kalm said Senate bill 878 goes against everything he is trying to do.
Lisa Baratta, the general manager of a large charity poker lounge in Shelby Township called The River, said she’s been running the business since July 2011.
Currently, she said her business and charities make about $4,000 per four-day event, running from 2 p.m.-2 a.m. and splitting revenue 50-50.
The River is a location, not a supplier, so it would be able to make $250 in rent per charity, plus the cost of food and beverages, under the new rules.
“When we first opened up, we were allowed to have an unlimited amount of charities. We got ourselves up to six charities per day; then in October of 2013, the Gaming Control Board cut us back to three without really any reason,” she said.
She said that if legislation does not pass in the House, the rules would go into effect May 15 and likely cause The River to close its doors.
“In a state like Michigan, where the economy is not necessarily thriving, to make a successful business close down is unacceptable,” Barrata said. “This is a win-win because I’m employing people, I have lots of vendors, I pay taxes through the state and charities are making a lot of money for those who need it.”
Kalm said the rules would hold charities more accountable and responsible for an explosion of unregulated activity that had become a problem.
If the rules go into effect, he said he believed millionaire parties would become more popular at bowling alleys, bars and restaurants, and that charities would just have to do a little more research to hire a supplier.
In a legislative hearing conducted yesterday, supporters of Michigan’s charitable poker room industry – including card room owners, charitable organizations and players – turned out in full force to let their voice be heard regarding new proposed regulations on said industry.
Melissa Anders of MLive.comreports that more than 140 people were in attendance for a legislative hearing in Lansing on Thursday that dealt with the issue of regulation of the charitable online poker industry. Anders states that a huge majority of those in attendance were supporters of the charitable poker rooms and their “millionaire parties” and let their voices be heard frequently throughout the hearing.
Under discussion by the board are new proposals from the executive director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board, Rick Kalm, that Kalm believes are necessary to rein in illegal activities in charitable poker rooms across the state. Last month, Kalm introduced nineteen pages of new regulations – including a midnight stoppage time and a reduction in the number of days a charity room could operate to 30 – that were met with derision from many supporters of charity gaming. Since introducing those regulations, Kalm has refined his suggestions.
In exchange for lifting a 2011 ban on the opening of new charitable rooms, Kalm wants to now limit charitable poker rooms to one charitable event per day with maximum chip sales of $15,000. The charitable rooms would be able to operate 120 days out of the year (instead of Kalm’s previously proposed 30) and “some locations” would be allowed to stay open until 2AM. Kalm said that, due to feedback from charities, he wanted to ensure that they would still be able to raise money through the “millionaire parties.”
These new regulations are a far cry from what were the previous guidelines, however. Last year, charitable poker rooms in Michigan could operate up to six charitable games per day with maximum chip sales of $90,000. Under the new enforcement by Kalm and the MGCB, rooms were cut down to three charitable events per day and chip sales of $45,000 this year.
The hearing brought out proponents on both sides of the argument, who voiced their opinions on the proposed new regulations. The deputy legal counsel for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Dave Murley, stated during the hearing, “Charitable poker began as a good cause, evolved into a highly lucrative business and has degenerated into a racket,” he said, prompting those in attendance that support the charitable rooms to boo him thunderously.
Charities such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Lions Club and other non-profit organizations were in attendance and pointed out how the new regulations would affect them. Not only would charities lose a method of fundraising, they pointed out, but the economy would be affected by the loss of jobs in the poker rooms (dealers and wait staff) and by the closure of rooms that already exist. A member of the Michigan Charitable Gaming Association, Ron Pioch (also a member of a charitable cause, the Knights of Columbus), said that the organization wants to help be a part of the solution but that Kalm and the MGCB’s proposed regulations go too far and wouldn’t address issues the MGCB has with charitable poker rooms.
The best statement regarding the new regulations was made by a general manager for one of the charitable rooms. Electric Stick general manager Geo Marvasa (whose club has been closed since a fire in May) said during the hearing, “I don’t understand how you guys are saying that this is good for charities by regulating it so much…you’re not helping the charities, you’re hurting them.”
For the regulations to take effect, the Michigan General Assembly would not have to vote on the issue. A legislative committee comprised of members of the House and the Senate would meet and, without consideration by the full Assembly, choose to either enact the new regulations or propose changes to the regulations. There is also action in the General Assembly to pass a bill that would allow for the charitable poker industry to operate under set regulations not proposed by the MGCB.
It was previously stated in a newsletter from the Poker Players Alliance that a future hearing on the charitable poker room situation in Michigan would be held on November 7. Anders and Poker News Daily have been unable to confirm that date, but will continue to monitor the discussion as it continues in the Wolverine State.