Another Attempt at Legalizing Online Poker in California Approaches

Following several failed attempts, Senator Rod Wright is contemplating plans to have another go at legalizing intrastate online poker gambling in California. The Senator told American gambling news that his next attempt to convince the California Legislature will most probably take place in January 2013.

The corner stone of his newest attempt at changing the American gambling laws will be the unchanged version of his initial SB 1463 bill, which caused different commercial and tribal parties to both support and oppose the issue. Previously, the interested parties have mainly clashed over the bill’s provisions, potentially allowing one or the other to dominate the yet to be legalized market.

The main proponent of the online poker legalization in USA was the California Online Poker Association – an alliance, comprising of 31 state cardrooms and 29 tribal groups, which voiced their own suggestion on how to amend the Wright bill in order for it to be approved by the Legislature. The alliance broke up last October, paving a smoother way for Senator’s renewed approach.

The SB 1463 has been withdrawn by Senator Wright last June, right before the discussion by a state Senate committee. This move allowed both the Rod Wright and the bill’s co-author Senator Darrell Steinberg to have more time negotiating the bill with interested parties.

The parties in question included tribal groups, horse-racing operators, and commercial cardrooms. Unfortunately, by the beginning of September it has become clear that the bill’s authors failed to gather the necessary support for the bill to go through.

We sincerely hope that this time around Senators will have more luck convincing the industry players and the lawmakers alike about the benefits of having a legal framework for online poker gambling in the state.

Should the bill become a reality in California, it may very well pave the way for similar bills in other states and/or on a federal level.