Three bills aimed at illegal play in Honolulu were signed in teams by Mayor Blangiardi on Thursday.
Bills 11, 12 and 13 grant Honolulu Police Department (HPD) and city agencies on O`AHU expanded powers to turn off illegal playing rooms.
Hawaii News now reported the storyWith Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm who comments that “illegal playing room is an eye -comprehensive problem and that more than 60 operations have been shut down in the past year.”
Distribution of the bills
“Bill 11 actually creates fines for our gaming units,” said City Council Andria Tupola.
The bill defines and regulates “electronic entertainment units”, including video and mechanical gaming machines. In addition, it requires the operators to obtain an annual permit from the police chief or the facial unit’s attack.
According to the terms of the bill, it allows fines and classifies offenses for companies that are available with less than 20 gaming machines or crimes in over 20 units.
The other two bills focus on the relationship between HPD and the Department of Planning and allows (DPP) for Honolulu to work together to focus on illegal playing rooms.
Tupola added that “Bill 12 strengthens the relationship between DPP and HPD when we crack down on building violations, and Bill 13 specifically treats that landlords work with HPD.”
Games in Hawaii
The bills have been successfully adopted at a time when legislators failed to agree to legalize sports games in Hawaii. A bill proposing to make online sports books legal in the state failed despite being adopted in both chambers earlier this year.
The Senate and Chamber passed different versions of the bill and could not solve issues such as the tax rate and how the industry would be regulated.
Honolulu legislation focuses on handling illegal playing rooms over the island of O’Ahu, but makes no regulations on online games.
Hawaiians are already betting on sports
Rope. Daniel Holt, one of the advocates for legalizing sports games in Hawaii, commented that the residents are already investing in large numbers in the Aloha state.
“Sports play is already happening over our islands,” Holt said. “It only happens through bookies and uncertain offshore sites that have no consumer protection and allow minors to invest.”
Sport Betting Alliance estimates that the Hawaii inhabitants are investing in about $ 300 million a year, mainly through offshore sports books.
Hawaii is still one of only two states, along with Utah, without legal form of games. However, the latest effort to legalize sports games continued further than previous attempts, and it is likely that new legislation will be proposed again next year.
The bills in Honolulu will sharpen the game in illegal games room, which can lead to more Hawaiians turning to online forms of games.
