All efforts in the California legislature to legalize online poker died last week when bills in the Assembly and the Senate died as the Legislature neared the end of its 2014 session on August 31.
Senator Lou Correa, who is being term-limited out of office at the end of this year left the effort for some other lawmaker in 2015. He said there wasn’t enough time to unite all of the interest groups on an acceptable version in time for a vote. But there was no indication if anyone was ready to pick up the torch.
Correa said, “Internet poker is an important public policy. We need to make sure it’s done right.”
Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer, sponsor of the other bill, did not shelve his bill, but it had not moved through the committee process.
The deal killer continues to be a lack of unanimity among gaming tribes, with some tribes dead set against allowing PokerStars, partner of the Morongo tribe, to participate in any intrastate online gaming. Language in both bills would not allow “bad actors,” those who offered online poker before it was legalized, to participate.
A group of about a dozen gaming tribes that support the “bad actor” clause released a statement declaring that they are willing to wait to get a bill they can support.
Before the end of the session the state’s cardrooms decided to call attention to their issues by setting up mock cardrooms on the steps of the state capitol. The two-hour event set up for the benefit of lawmakers and their staff, featured blackjack tables and snacks.
Part of the problem is that online poker’s biggest champion in the legislature, Senator Roderick Wright, was removed as chairman of the Governmental Organization Committee due to his conviction in January on eight felonies connected with claims that he lived in his district when he did not—at least according to prosecutors. His multiple residences have complicated the case.
Wright, who was suspended from his senatorial duties in March, is attempting to raise funds to fight his convictions and seeks a new trial.
Another complication is the lobbying effort by casino titan Sheldon Adelson, who has so far spent more than $300,000 lobbying lawmakers to kill the proposal. He has also hired former Assembly Speakers Fabian Nunez and Willie Brown to represent his position.
A third complication is the insistence of the state’s racetracks that they be allowed to offer the games, something that many tribes oppose. Nevertheless the racetracks have many powerful friends, and they have promised to hold online gaming hostage if the racetracks are locked out.
After the news that the poker bills were dead, PokerStars and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and their partners, several California card rooms issued a statement: “We have been working on this issue for five years now and while we were optimistic that a suitable bill would move forward in 2014, we’re in this for the long haul and we’d rather do it right than have a bad bill,” said Robert Martin, chairman of the Morongo band.
Martin’s statement criticized the “bad actor” clause as “unconstitutional” as well as other efforts to limit competition from racetracks. He reiterated that the Morongos and their allies have no intention of giving up the fight.
John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, made a statement characterizing the legislature’s inaction as a “dance” he called the “internet poker shuffle,” typified by one step forward and two steps back. Pappas said he remains optimistic that the legislature will eventually act on online poker.
This has led some political observers to speculate that the Morongo coalition next year might make common cause with the racetracks and float a competing bill with the Pechanga/San Manuel alliance.
Jones-Sawyer has already indicated that he plans to reintroduce online poker in December.
The “bad actor” complication could eventually be solved as it has been in New Jersey. Amaya, which recently acquired PokerStars, has shown itself willing to do business in the state with a different subsidiary. New Jersey’s gaming commission is expected soon to rule that Amaya can operate PokerStars (and equally tainted Full Tilt) in the state.
PokerStars maintains a cordial relationship with most gaming jurisdictions in the world.
At this point only Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have legalized online gaming. Three U.S. Senators, Dianne Feinstein, Kelly Ayotte and Lindsey Graham, are pushing for a federal ban on online gaming, as once existed until the Justice Department ruled that while interstate online gaming is disallowed by federal law, that intrastate gaming is not.
