While the advancement of California online poker legislation has been making slow but steady progress in recent months, it seems that Assembly Bill 2863 has hit another hurdle, with opposition – unsurprisingly – coming from a coalition of American Indian tribes. Nobody expected completely smooth sailing for Assemblyman Adam Gray’s sponsored bill, but it was hoped that all the interest groups would be able to reach some kind of agreement to allow the bill to advance even further this year.
However, the seven tribes, which include the owners of the state’s biggest Indian casino, the Pechanga Resort and Casino, as well as the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs, are demanding further concessions in return for their support of AB 2863. Most significantly, the tribes want to see heftier penalties for online poker rooms which offered their services to US players after 2006 when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed by the federal government. The tribes will only support the bill if a decade-long ban is imposed on poker sites that ran illegally from 2006 to 2011. This clause, known as the ‘bad actor clause’ could include Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker, among others. Poker Stars accuses these tribes of pushing for these concessions in order to keep it out of the market as they, perhaps justifiably, see Poker Stars as a major threat to their businesses.
The tribes wrote a joint letter to Gray last week, acknowledging his hard work in making progress on a “contentious issue” but saying that “regrettably, if these amendments are not accepted, we must continue to strongly oppose further movement of AB 2863.”
The next step for AB 2863 is to head to the Legislature when it returns from its summer session next month for a full vote. The proposal recently passed the Assembly’s appropriations committee by a nearly unanimous vote of 14-1.
If the bill is successful in the Legislature, it will see a new poker regime introduced in the Golden State, where licensed brick and mortar casinos will be allowed to apply for online poker licenses at a $12.5 million fee. The online poker sites will need to pay a certain percentage of their annual profits, depending on how much their businesses generate in gross profits.
State authorities will be responsible for overseeing the new online poker industry, including law enforcement, combating cheating and money laundering, enforcing the 21 year old age requirement and maintaining strict privacy standards.
