California’s legislature will consider two bills to legalize online poker in the state, with one each introduced in the state Assembly and in the state Senate.
The Assembly bill, introduced by Assembly member Reginald Jones-Sawyer, would only permit online poker. The bill provides for a gambling enforcement fund to be funded by fines against unlawful gambling sites. It also calls for the state to opt out of any potential federal online gambling law.
The bill would require a two thirds majority of the assembly to pass.
The Senate bill was introduced by state Senator Lou Correa and would also only allow online poker.
Last week in Sacramento, the iGaming Legislative Symposium was convened and attracted nearly 200 interested parties. The conference examined all aspects of online gaming and how it would apply in California
Opening keynote speaker Assemblyman Isadore Hall III explained how the bills would be considered in the lower house, and that hearings would be convened by mid-March to consider them. He said all options were on the table at this point.
The traditional animosity between the state’s 80-plus card rooms and the gaming tribes was dialed down for the conference as tribal members and card room representatives sat side by side. The two bills have provisions for the card clubs to host online casinos. Some differences remain, such as how many skins each license could host and how a change of ownership in the card rooms would affect the online license, but overall, there isn’t anything blocking a final agreement.
Racetracks and ADWs (advance deposit wagering or off-track betting) are not mentioned in either bill, and will clearly be an impediment to the passage. But the departure of Senator Rod Wright after being convicted of felony charges weakens the racetracks, whom Wright strongly supported.
But even some tribal members were reticent about becoming involved.
Marc Macarro, the chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, wasn’t happy about discussing iPoker at all.
“Frankly,” he said, “we’d prefer not to be in this business. But if it’s going to happen, we have to take the lead.”
Macarro said that tribal gaming is the one economic development tool that has worked in California, and he’s reluctant to enter any business that threatens the success of gaming.
Leslie Lohse, the chairwoman of the California Tribal Business Alliance, said her members were still concerned about the impact of iPoker on tribal gaming in the state.
“We’d like to see a little more evidence about how it impacts land-based casinos,” she says. “I’ve seen reports that Atlantic City casinos have lost 6 percent of their business since the advent of online gaming there. I don’t know how that impacts Atlantic City, but I know if we lost 6 percent of our business, it would be a serious blow to the tribes.”
Asked after the session what studies reported this decline, Lohse referenced a report by the American Gaming Association, as well as another study done by the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, a Washington, D.C., organization funded by Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson.
The luncheon keynote featured an address by Richard Schuetz, a commissioner with the California Gambling Commission, in which he said iPoker would only work in the state if all the participants worked together with the regulators.
“We all have a common interest,” said Schuetz, “so it only makes sense to cooperate and create an industry that is beyond reproach and works for everyone involved.”
Mario Galea, a former Malta regulatory and found of Random Consulting, said that California could beat New Jersey’s record of being up and operating less than six months after an iPoker bill becomes law. Galea was the outside consultant to New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
“Even though California is a much bigger state,” said Galea, “there are tremendous assets that the state could utilize to get the process done at least as quickly as in New Jersey.”
Haig Kelegian, the owner of several card rooms in California, made a plea to the legislators, based on his constituents.
“I ask our elected officials to remember our veterans, many of whom can’t leave their houses to come to the card rooms or the Indian casinos,” he said. “Please legalize online poker so these brave men and women can enjoy the camaraderie of a poker game from their homes. It’s the least we can do for them.”
Bo Mazzetti, the chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians and a Navy veteran, concurred.
“There are lots of reasons why people can’t get to the card rooms or the casinos, and we should give them the option of being able to play their favorite game of poker from their homes,” he said.
As for interstate compacts, don’t hold your breath. If not outright banned by the bills, there will be no rush to make arrangements with other states, particularly Nevada.
“You have to understand the history of the two states when it comes to gaming,” said Schuetz. “In the 1990s, Nevada spent millions of dollars trying to keep tribes from entering the gaming industry (during the Prop 5 and Prop 1a campaigns that greatly expanded tribal gaming). Now they want help with their struggling iPoker business? Not going to happen.”
