Legalizing Internet poker in California

A measure by Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) would allow state Internet poker licenses to be granted to card rooms and the 60 Native American tribes that operate casinos, as long as they are judged “suitable” to participate after background checks by the state Department of Justice.

The latest: The bill, AB 2863, made it through the Assembly committee process but is awaiting a vote on the Assembly floor, where it needs a two-thirds majority — 54 votes — to pass. Few bills in Sacramento can muster that kind of bipartisan support, and gambling legislation is almost always controversial. An amendment passed Aug. 17 would create a five-year disqualification period for those who oversaw firms providing Internet poker games to U.S. citizens while it was against the law to do so. A “penalty box” period had been sought by a group of Native American tribes that operate casinos in California. New amendments would change the tax rate for online poker sites from a sliding scale of 8.64% to 15% of annual gross gaming revenue to a flat rate of 10%.

Back story: The quest to legalize online poker has been a simmering issue in the Capitol for years, and features some of the most powerful political players lobbying for its passage or defeat. Disagreements among several prominent gaming tribes have bottled things up in previous attempts. Still, Gray and a group of Indian tribes that operate casinos say Californians are already playing poker on illegal websites without consumer protections and AB 2863 would regulate the games while allowing California gambling firms to run them for profit.