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An Act To Amend the Law Regarding Super Cribbage Tournaments
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas,  this legislation must take effect before the expiration of the 90-day period to ensure the law regarding super cribbage tournaments is amended before September 30, 2017, allowing the law to remain in effect; and
Whereas,  in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 17 MRSA §1836, sub-§4-A, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 163, §1, is amended to read:
 
4-A. Exception for super cribbage tournament.   Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, the Chief of the State Police may issue up to 315 licenses per year for the conduct of a super cribbage tournament. For the purposes of this subsection, "cribbage" means a card game that uses a board and pegs to keep score and of which the characteristic feature is a crib into which players discard cards from their dealt hand to create a crib of 4 cards unseen by other players that will be ultimately part of the dealer's hand. The license fee for a super cribbage tournament is $75. A super cribbage tournament must be conducted in the same manner as prescribed for a tournament game by this section except as follows.
 
A. The super cribbage tournament may be conducted by a nationally chartered organization that organizes tournament-style cribbage games and that is exempt from taxation under the United States Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)(3) so long as the principal organizer has been a member of that organization for a period of not less than 3 years.
 
B. The minimum number of players required is 5030.
 
C. The maximum entry fee allowed is $100 per player.
 
D. The super cribbage tournament need not be held on premises owned by the licensee.
 
E. The super cribbage tournament may be conducted over a period of up to 72 hours.
 
F. Notwithstanding subsection 2, 50% of the proceeds of the super cribbage tournament after prizes are paid must be paid to a bona fide charitable organization, other than the licensee, listed on the tournament application submitted to the Chief of the State Police.
 
This subsection is repealed September 30, 2017.
Emergency clause.  In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect when approved.
 
Effective 90 days following adjournment of the 128th Legislature, First Regular Session, unless otherwise indicated.