For a long time it appeared that a “bad actor” clause would be the death of online poker in California this year. More and more it is looking as though the insistence of participation by the Golden State’s racetracks could spell the end of this legislative session’s attempt.
Four bills are currently alive in the legislature. Mike Gatto’s AB 9 would license tribes and card rooms. Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer’s AB167 would license tribes, card rooms and racetracks. Assemblyman Adam Gray and Senator Isadore Hall in their bill do not go into who is eligible for licenses.
Seven of the most influential gaming tribes in the state insist that they won’t allow racetracks a place at the table, insisting that to do so would violate their state tribal gaming compact and shatter the tribes’ right to a monopoly on Las Vegas style gaming.
The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Riverside County leads this coalition. Although the tribe publically says it fears that allowing racetracks to participate would violate the compacts, privately some members say they are worried that won’t survive if its privileges are extended to non-tribal entities.
They don’t feel the same way about the participation of the state’s card clubs.
“No iPoker in California is the clearly preferable option” to including the racetracks said Aqua Caliente Chairman Jeff Grubbe last week.
Some political observers feel that this tribal rift threatens the passage this year of any iPoker bill, which would require two-thirds of both houses to pass because it is a finance issue.
Pechanga’s counsel Steve Bodmer told Online Poker Report, “This is a big issue because it’s an unnecessary expansion of gaming in California.” Some legislators fear that Pechanga is big enough to keep a bill that it opposes from passing.
Tribes have varying worries about online gaming. Some see it as a threat to brick and mortar casinos, while others see it as a necessary new source of revenue that they must nail down and claim as their own.
Bo Mazzetti, chairman of the Rincon band, which owns Harrah’s Southern California Resort in San Diego County, argues for the inclusion of racetracks.
“There’s no question the race tracks have to be eligible for licensing,” Mazzetti said. “That’s from the governor’s office. It’s going to be in there or there’s no bill.”
The implication of that remark is that Governor Jerry Brown has advised that he will veto a bill that doesn’t include racetracks.
