The US’ most populous state of California re-introduced legislation on Friday which would authorise and regulate online gambling, starting with poker.
SB 1463, The Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2012, if passed, would see qualified entities pay US$30m to the state for 10-year licences to operate intrastate gambling websites.
In recognition of the Golden State’s huge and growing budget deficit, projected to reach US$28bn by the end of this fiscal year, the bill introduced by Senator Rod Wright has been deemed an “urgency statute”. This means the legislation would take effect immediately if passed by a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature, as opposed to 1 January 2013.
According to the bill text: “It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to ensure that the state realizes a minimum of two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) of General Fund revenue from licensing fees during the 2012-13 fiscal year.”
The legislation, which has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Darrell Steinberg would be “poker only” for the first two years, after which the State Justice Department would be able to phase in other casino games allowed under California state law.
While the bill would only establish a framework for gambling intrastate by California residents, it does contain a provision that would allow the state to “opt into” any federal framework for online gambling. California’s State Justice Department would also have authority to “enter into any agreement with other states to provide internet gambling”, offering potential for poker liquidity to be pooled between California and other US states.
SB 1463 represents the unification of two competing bills to authorise internet gaming in the state submitted in late 2010, one by new bill sponsor Wright to authorise all casino games, the other a poker-only bill introduced by Senator Lou Correa on behalf of the California Online Poker Association (COPA), a coalition of gaming tribes and card clubs led by the Moronogo and San Manuel Bands of Mission Indians. COPA announced a deal last June with software giant Playtech to provide it with a poker platform in California, which has already launched in freeplay mode under the CalShark brand.
Photo by Sam/Flickr (Creative Commons).
