Mayor Blangiardi in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii and located on the island of O’ahu, has signed three bills into law to curb the rise of illegal backroom gambling in the city. These grant the police and city agencies increased powers to shut down illegal gambling activities than before.
City council member Andria Tupola broke down what each of the three bills actually targets. The first, Bill 11, “is actually creating fines for our gambling devices.” Similar to recent issues in mainland America, it will allow law enforcement to fine businesses that are housing illicit gambling equipment.
Bill 11 confuses with illegal gambling permit system
Businesses will require a permit, and Bill 11 also describes what counts as a misdemeanor or felony in the state. Those who are found with less than 20 machines will be lumped with a misdemeanour, while those found with more will face the law under a felony.
It also introduces a permit system that businesses will need to acquire from the police chief every year. However, there’s some confusion surrounding Bill 11’s permit system. Hawaii doesn’t allow for gambling in any capacity, but has recently proposed legalising it on the island.
Sportsbooks and other operators are already pushing for it, while officials on the island are mulling it, while some representatives of different groups are calling for it to remain banned.
ReadWrite has reached out to clarify how Bill 11’s permits will work.
Bills 12 and 13 backs Hawaii police and landlords
Bill 12 gives more powers to the local police to allow for harder crackdowns on illegal gambling rooms that commit building violations. Bill 13 ties in with this by giving landlords the option to allow the HPD to become the inspection agent to root out any backroom gambling occurring.
It does clarify that the inspecting officer will need to “provide advance notice of the inspection pursuant to the lease, rental agreement, or the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code”, as well as inspect during “reasonable hours” of 6 am to 10 pm. It does, however, also allow the police to eject anyone “not authorized to be present”.
