California takes the gamble?
A BILL is being proposed by two legislators that would offer 10-year licenses to the state’s tribal casinos, card clubs and horse racing interests, allowing them initially to offer online poker.
According to reports, it’s been estimated that around 2 million Californians wager $13 billion a year on online poker sites. The opposition to the proposed bill has also spoken out. The main concern here is the huge social and economic impacts that come with the expansion into regulating online gambling. “Increases in crime and all of the money it takes to deal with that. Increases in unemployment, increases in homelessness, increases in welfare,” said the California Coalition Against Gambling’s James Butler.
In California, Senate Bill 1463 was introduced in February to allow Internet poker to be offered in California by authorized cardrooms, Indian tribe casinos, horse racing tracks and online horse wagering sites that have been in operation for at least three years prior to licensing. The bill may be acted upon on or after March 26, 2012.
Additional key components of the bill include the possibility of interstate agreements to provide Internet gambling if the DOJ indicates that it is permissible under federal law and the choice for the state to opt in or out of any federal framework for Internet gambling.
However with the bill and the idea of bringing online gambling to its resident’s homes and smart phones, Indian tribes are concerned that the digital shift to online gambling will put a huge dent in their revenue from brick-and-mortar casinos.
“Right now, millions of Californians are playing online poker and every dollar goes off-shore,” said Andrew Governor of the California Online Poker Association. We want to ensure that money stays in California.”
