Michigan Online Gambling Bill in Limbo

The state of Michigan was on the cusp of legalized online betting last year when governor Rick Snyder inexplicably vetoed the bill. Now the legislation is sitting in limbo, as new governor Gretchen Whitmer has not decided whether or not she'll act on a new bill.

Representative Brandt Iden has been championing the cause for a few years now, and he was the one who shepherded the bill through to Snyder's desk last year. That veto sent the bill back to the drawing board, and Whitmer's office hasn't exactly been forthcoming with what they'd consider a reasonable set of terms. It's believed that if the governor were to approve a bill, she'd want it to feature a 40% tax rate on internet betting as well as a licensing fee of $1 million for operators.

While he's opposed to the high tax rate, Iden says that he's willing to negotiate on the rate as well as contributing more to the School Aid Fund.

Speaking about the situation Whitmer noted: "I know that there's been some robust debates, and I've said very clearly, over and over again, that protecting the School Aid Fund and ensuring we get every dollar back into the education of our kids is my top priority. So I'm going to have a hard time supporting anything that doesn't protect that goal."

While it seemed that legal online gambling was almost a sure thing less than 8 months ago, it now seems that hopes for the activity are lower than my chances of dating Scarlett Johansson.