Poker Bill On Hold

Players in California are going to have to wait until 2009 to see if they the bill called “Gambling Control/California Intrastate Online Poker Act, A.B. 2026” will happen. It is designed so California can tax and regulate online gambling in their home state.

In June it was passed by a vote of 6 to 1 to “study the ability of the state to protect California’s by licensing and Governmental Organization Committee”, however last week it went on the inactive legislative file for 2008. It was asked to go on the inactive list by the same person who introduced it – Lloyd Levine. Levine said the following “This is an attempt to do what the federal government allows – provide people who want to play in California at least the opportunity to play internet poker in a way that they can be certain is safe and regulated.” The bill was asked for by the Poker Voters of America but it is being asked by them to revise it and pass it in 2009. The president of Poker Voters of America, Jim Tabillio who called for the suspension said "It's a good sign that the legislators are taking this issue seriously, understand the importance of the bill and are asking the right questions. The plan going forward is to bring together the potential stakeholders to help craft a final version of the bill that protects Californians who play online and maximizes revenue for the state."

This bill is an economic opportunity for California as it would create a good source of revenue allowing online gambling from California run poker websites. Online poker websites are known to generate billions of dollars in revenue.

Lloyd Levine added this in his press release “Right now millions of people in California are playing poker online for money. They are unprotected and unregulated. That lends itself to deception and potential fraud. The servers are in places like Bermuda and Isle of Mann. That means California’s have no protections if something goes wrong.”

The bill was introduced in February of this year and is expected to be reintroduced in January of 2009.