Home / Poker News July 2010 / Legal intrastate poker discussed in California
Legal intrastate poker discussed in California
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Sat, 2010-07-03 12:05
California is apparently seriously considering legalizing intra-state online poker in an effort to alleviate the financial pressures to which the debt-ridden state is currently subjected. What exactly would legal intrastate online poker in California mean for the online poker industry? Apparently not much good, which would also explain why the PPA (Poker Players’ Alliance), has refrained from getting behind the bill in its current form so far.
The infamous UIGEA, the provisions of which went into full effect on June 1st, allows for each state to decide for its own whether or not it wants to legalize online poker/gambling and in which shape/form it wants to do it. The form under which California aims to tackle the issue is obviously not a satisfactory one for the
online poker industry as a whole.
In its current form, the bill would only make it legal for California residents to play against other players from the state, but not against anybody from around the world or even from the US. Not only that, but it would make it a misdemeanor for players to play at sites not authorized by the state. The bill also stipulates, that only about 3 operators would be found suitable, and that sites, which have offered real money online poker/gambling in the state since the UIGEA’s passage (and that includes pretty much every online poker site out there which continues to accept US players -
Full Tilt Poker and
PokerStars too) would not even be considered for a license.
As John Pappas, executive director of the PPA has pointed it out, the bill would create an isolated, not to mention undesirable online poker market, while in the same time it would completely deny California residents access to more competitive sites (in other words: to the real cream of the of the online poker industry), criminalizing all such attempts.
The online poker industry has obviously little to gain from such a setup. Even after the Tuesday hearing, the bill has remained unlikely to make waves this year. It enjoys very little support in its current form and the State’s powerful Indian tribes oppose it too. Even the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which has sought a monopoly in the matter a while ago, has turned its back on the initiative.
