Home / Poker News February 2012 / California Poker Bill in the Works
California Poker Bill in the Works
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2012-02-28 15:29
As many an expert has predicted,
on line poker is already well on its way towards state-by-state legalization. Regardless of the possible advantages of federally legalized online poker, many states out there can’t wait for the Washington lawmakers to get moving on the issue. The latest state to join the list of jurisdictions seriously considering legal online poker is California. Senator Roderick Wright and Senator Darrel Steinberg, both from the Democratic side of the barricade, have introduced a bill which – if passed – would legalize online poker within the state of California. The Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2012 is an initiative born out of necessity, make no mistakes about that. California is one of the states with massive budget holes to plug and online gambling has long been mulled as a potential solution.
The bill isn’t Wright’s first initiative of this nature. He had tried and failed before to push through something of the sort, but this time – thanks to the DoJ’s revised stance concerning the 1961 Wire Act – things may be quite different.
The bill would give operators 10 year licenses, and if all goes according to plan, the state of California should collect about $30 million during the first 3 years of the plan.
The bill would not open the floodgates for online gambling though: during the first two years of regulation, only online poker would be allowed, although after that other games could be introduced as well, in accordance to the State Constitution.
While the situation does indeed appear to be favorable for legal online poker for the above named reasons and more, there’s still a major hurdle in the path of legalization represented by the powerful tribal communities of the state. While some of the tribes are on board, feeling that they’ll be able to compete in the legal online poker market, other, smaller communities are concerned they’ll be sidelined by major casino interests.
