California Online Poker Bill Shelved Until 2015

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Thursday, August 7th, 2014 | Written by Charles Washington

In February this year, two poker bills were introduced to the California state legislator, namely Assemblyman Reginald Jones’s AB-2291 in the state assembly, and State Senator Joe Correa’s SB-1366 in the senate. It was hoped that both online gambling bills would then be enacted by the end of the current legislative session, but after months of wrangling between the various gambling interest California’s dream of legalizing online poker is dead for yet another year.

Apparently, State Sen. Lou Correa (photo) decided to shelve SB 1366 from consideration because the current legislative session has less than a month to run, which he said was not enough time to refine the bill and bring together various Indian casino operators and card clubs. Commenting on the matter, Sen. Lou Correa, said:

“Internet poker is an important public policy. We need to make sure it’s done right.”

California has been considering regulated iGaming since 2007, and this year was named as one of the states most likely to introduce regulation in 2014. The decision by Correa therefore represents a major setback for Californian online poker, further compounded by the fact its twin bill AB-2291 has also failed to progress through the committee process and has yet to receive a date for a hearing.

Tribes “don’t agree on anything”

Although 2014 being an election year has also contributed to online poker being held up in The Golden State, at the heart of the matter is the disagreement between the numerous Indian tribes located in California, which account for roughly a third of all federally recognized tribes in the USA. In order to pass a new online gambling law two-thirds of the vote must first be garnered, but gaming analyst Professor Nelson Rose told The Los Angeles Times, recently:

“The politics of this aren’t right for this to get rushed through by the end of this year. The state is so large and there are so many tribes and they don’t agree on anything.”

Bad Actor clause

Part of the disagreement amongst the disparate gaming interests involves a “bad actor” clause being included in the legislation that would effectively shut PokerStars out of the lucrative Californian online gaming market, believed to be worth between $263 million and $384 million a year.

Whilst the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California poker rooms, the Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens, and the Commerce Casino, have already agreed a partnerships deal with PokerStars, many of California’s other tribes vehemently oppose the move.

More opposition from race track interests

In addition, California’s race track interests have taken exception to the current poker bills preventing them from opening their own iGaming operations, leading to a further slowing down in the drive towards regulated online poker. Commenting on the issue, Poker Players Alliance (PPA) Director John Pappas recently said at a Global iGaming Summit in San Francisco:

“I think some level of compromise can be made on the bad actors. From what I can tell, those differences can be resolved. Anyone who says that’s the reason it isn’t happening is using it as an excuse. But saying the horse racing tracks can’t be a part of the market whatsoever doesn’t leave any room for compromises.”

Delay could prove advantageous

Californian online poker legalization may have to now wait until 2015 before progress is made, but a new State Senator will have to then champion the cause as Joe Correa would have already stepped down from office due to term limits. Nevertheless, this could prove to be a positive development as the next sponsor may feel more inclined to offer a quicker compromise on the PokerStars “bad actor” situation. Furthermore, the delay will also offer the Indian Tribes more time to resolve their differences and hopefully reach a consensus on the whole situation.

Santa Ysabel Tribe preparing to launch real online gaming

Whilst California’s epic online poker journey is set to continue for a while longer, The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel surprised the poker community last month by citing its sovereign rights before launching a play money online poker site called PrivateTable.com, a supposed prelude to the launch of real money online poker. The move also has the potential to motivate other tribes in California to join their online tribal poker network and at the time of its launch the Santa Ysabel Tribe said real money gaming could start as soon as July 14th. Almost a month later, however, and play money tables are still the only games currently available on the site.