PADAVAN v. CITY OF NEW YORK (1999)

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Paula Omansky, J.), entered on or about June 2, 1998, which, inter alia, granted defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint, unanimously modified, on the law, to reinstate so much of the complaint as seeks a declaration as to the validity of Local Law 57 and to declare said law valid to the extent challenged herein, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

We find nothing in the amendments to the Johnson Act (15 U.S.C. § 1175) to support plaintiff's contention that they were intended by Congress to preempt local regulation of so-called gambling “cruises to nowhere”.   Nor is there any indication that the challenged enactment, Local Law 57 (Administrative Code of the City of New York § 20-950 et seq.), actually conflicts with the amendments to the Johnson Act.   Although the cited amendments to the Johnson Act relaxed Congress's former prohibition against shipboard gambling, they cannot be understood to deprive States or municipalities of the prerogative, in the exercise of their police powers, to reasonably regulate the conduct of shipboard gambling businesses operating from within their jurisdictional bounds (see, 15 U.S.C. § 1175[b][2][A] ).

MEMORANDUM DECISION.