Montana blackjack bill squashed

Blackjack players in the state of Montana will be sad to hear that a bill that would have legalized blackjack in the state has been tabled. The bill was reviewed by the Senate Finance and Claims Committee in Montana just yesterday and it found so much opposition that the committee decided to table the bill which means it is dead.

Bar owners as well as other business owners stated at the meeting that the legalization of the card game would increase gambling addiction as well as crime in the state. Bar owners also stated that the amount of money needed to run the tables would be too much and place smaller casinos at a disadvantage.

"The implementation of blackjack is something (casinos) don't want to do or can't do," Douglas Palagi of Great Falls said. "They don't have the resources to operate a blackjack table."

The bill is sponsored by Representative Tony Belcourt and he created the bill I the hopes that revenues would go toward social services. The idea was also to keep residents in the state instead of them going to other states to spend their money on blackjack games.

The bill had seen little controversy until the hearing on Thursday. However the opposition seen at the meeting on Thursday led members of the committee to vote no on the bill. The wide public opposition as well as the fact that adding blackjack would open up the state to add more gambling options led the leaders to vote no on the subject.

2011-04-08