Alaska Marine Highway System Proposed for Onboard Slot Machines

The Last Frontier shipboard soldier Highway System (AMHS) is at one time once more existence targeted for expansion slot machines through and through legislating in the Juneau capital.

Alaska Rep. Jesse William Graham Sumner (R-Wasilla) filed House Bill 197 last-place year but the statute never made it out of the House Transportation Committee. The legislation, which seeks to establish a legal fabric to set aside travelers alongside the state’s ferryboat boats to gamble on Las Vegas-style one-armed bandit machines, is endorse for 2024.

Sumner reintroduced HB197 lastly week. The bar is once again beingness for the first time considered past the House Transportation Committee.

Sumner says the task benefit from allowing expansion slot machines onboard the state’s Marine Highway System would bring forth much-needed revenue for the body politic enterprise. The Republican cites commonwealth reports finding the marine highway system of rules to be operating at a loss from each one year.

The first appearance of electronic gaming on AMHS ferries has the potentiality to generate additional revenue through fees, taxes, and a per centum of gaming income, similar to land-based casinos, contributing to the funding of maritime services,” William Graham Sumner said.

The lawmaker believes one-armed bandit machines aboard the ferries would draw in young tourists and foster regional economic development through and through the reinvestment of gaming-related revenue. He believes many Alaskans would also mount the ferries simply to gamble.

Fiscal Projections Questioned

The AMHS operates on the south-central coast of the state, as wellspring as the eastern Aleutian Islands and the Inside Passage of AK and Brits Columbia. The ferries ease nearly 350K passengers per year and over 100K vehicles.

The leatherneck Highway System spans 3,500 miles. The year-round operation provides indispensable conveyance to close to 35 coastal communities, many of which are non accessible by road.

Sumner’s statute would take into account one-armed bandit machines to be turned on at one time the ferries sail terzetto miles from land. He believes the tell could reap $20 jillion a twelvemonth from ferry one-armed bandit political machine taxes, a number he considers to be conservative.

Opponents, however, say Sumner’s bank bill as written would only when take into account slot machines on a few routes, as to the highest degree ships remain within terzetto miles of the shore. Those supportive of the ferrying slot machines say a unsubdivided solution would be to reroute the boats at to the lowest degree deuce-ace miles from land.

Speaking with the Alaska Beacon, Craig Tornga, the marine theatre director for the AMHS, said the only if ferries that currently canvas beyond tercet miles seaward are services between Kodiak Island Island and the mainland, Dutch Harbor crossways the Gulf of Alaska, and some spots within Prince William Sound. Tornga also questioned whether the aging ferries would be capable to accommodate the substantive electrical needs of expansion slot machines.

Increasing ferrying rates is something not many lawmakers or government activity officials need to do, as fares are already pricey. For a unmediated ride from capital of Alaska to Sitka for 2 adults and a car, the sailing terms is $364. The same itinerary sans an automobile is $178.

State Gaming Law

The three-mile term is critical, as Alaska’s current law of nature prohibits casino gambling. However, Last Frontier defines its maritime boundary, sometimes called territorial waters, to treat tercet miles from the shore.

Allowing a ferryboat boat to proffer one-armed bandit machines formerly off the Alaska coast past at to the lowest degree triplet miles, William Graham Sumner says, would set aside the play terminals to control without violating the state’s Administrative Code.

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