Legal Internet poker in California on hold until at least 2012

A high-stakes, big-money fight has been waged for months in the Capitol, with a coalition of card clubs and Indian gaming tribes on one side and an alliance of competing Indian tribes on the other. Already, TV and radio ads are airing in Sacramento, in support of Web-based poker.

California Senate President Darrell Steinberg has publicly backed intrastate egaming in California, but has delayed legislative action until 2012 due to “significant, unresolved issues”. Steinberg sent a letter to both sides Monday, also signed by Senate Governmental Organization Committee chair Rod Wright, calling off the fight until 2012. He said a "well thought out" solution to the thorny issue can be reached, but not this year.

“It seems abundantly clear the issue is here to stay,” Steinberg wrote. A hearing will be held by the Senate Governmental Organization Committee in January next year for the express purpose of moving a bill through the Committee, said Steinberg.

The California legislature is currently considering two bills which would authorise internet gaming in the state. The first, introduced by Committee Chair Rod Wright, would authorise all forms of gaming, while Senator Lou Correa is pushing a poker-only bill which is backed by the California Online Poker Association (COPA), a coalition of gaming tribes and card clubs led by the Morongo and San Manuel bands of Mission Indians.

COPA, which in June announced a deal with SciPlay/Playtech to provide it with a poker platform, has been airing TV and radio adverts in support of Correa’s bill, urging listeners to tell the politicians in Sacramento to authorise online poker.

“Unfortunately, nurses, police, fire and services for the poor and disabled will all be cut again if California doesn't find us$ 4 billion in new revenue by December,” one radio ad said. “There is a solution. By approving online poker, California has the ability to tap us$ 250 million in new money immediately and billions in years to come.”

Correa's bill has however been opposed by other gaming tribes in California, who argue it doesn’t give all gaming stakeholders sufficient opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity, with the proposed us$ 50 million cost of a licence seen as particularly exclusive.

Representative association the California Tribal Business Alliance last week sent a letter to California legislators asking them not to "ram-rod" through either bill before September 9, as "there are numerous stakeholders who stand to be irreparably harmed".

Steinberg however said in his letter that he believed postponing the issue until January 2012 would give California sufficient time to negotiate a framework agreed upon by all potential stakeholders. “There is time to get this right, and it is imperative to do so,” he wrote.