Recently further discussions on the bill to stop for-profit poker rooms took place in Oregon. These crackdown efforts, obviously have not pleased the local vibrant poker community. The action committee Save Oregon Poker have stated that casinos in the Washington State previously backed legislation to end poker in Portland.
If legislation is enacted in its current form, some 20 poker rooms in the Portland area potentially could close down. The proposal aims to tweak the definition of social gaming whereby organized poker games would only be permitted if they were to be operated by charitable, religious or fraternal organizations.
The five-member Senate Committee on General Government and Accountability clearly did not like the bill either and have stated that they think there is perhaps another way of moving forward, but at this stage, the legislation’s future is still unclear.