Perhaps making the most of the USA’s newfound interest in possibly giving online gaming regulation the attention it deserves, California has also resumed its own drive to fully legalize online Texas Holdem poker within its borders.
A group that was led by a powerful casino-holding tribe started the initiative past summer, but couldn’t make much progress given the state’s budget troubles. And even though that troubles hasn’t gone away — or more likely because that troubles hasn’t gone away — the same group is taking another crack at the goal of online poker regulation early in 2010.
And with good reason: “California Online poker games could bring in at least $1 billion annually,” reports the a San Francisco news paper. “If the state were to tax those games at the same 25 percent rate that it gets from the slot machines at Indian casinos, that would mean an extra $250 million a year.
“Small wonder that the chair of the Governmental Organization Committee, state Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, claimed that he’s planning hearings in February. So far Wright’s chief concern seems to be getting a bill that would win the support of the Indian tribes (which, coincidentally, donated $50,000 to his election past year).”
Ironically, given the fact that it was Indian tribes who first started this drive, it may also be tribes that kill it. Casino revenues are very competitive in the state, and any deal that doesn’t include a majority of tribes may not get very far.
So, the state has its work cut out for it. And it will have to act before any kind of federal laws are passed. It’s good to see a state Attmepting to get something done on the issue.
