The California bill that would tax and regulate an intrastate online poker industry will not go any further in 2008.
The bill, A.B. 2026, introduced by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, has been put on the inactive legislative file by its author at the request of Poker Voters of America, who pushed for the law.
According to Jim Tabilo, president of the PVOA, a revised bill will be introduced early 2009 with a bi-partisan group of new co-authors in the Assembly and Senate.
If passed, the bill would allow existing state poker rooms to apply for licenses to run online poker sites for citizen’s of California only.
Titled the Gambling Control/California Intrastate Online Poker Act, A.B. 2026 was introduced in February and made it through several committees before stalling. The PVOA believes that it simply ran out of time this year and would not be able to make the necessary changes in order for the bill to pass, and it is pleased that online poker is now on the radar in California.
“A year ago, no one was even thinking about an intrastate online poker system. Since then, A.B. 2026 was approved by two Assembly committees, passed the full Assembly, was then approved by two Senate committees and went to the floor of the State Senate. Then we just ran out of time to make necessary changes,” Tabilo said.
Next month, the PVOA is holding a conference to bring poker stakeholders, regulators, staff, and legislators together to inform them completely about the efforts of the PVOA.
“We want to provide enough detailed information so stakeholders, including Native American tribes and licensed card clubs in California, can work in cooperation with Poker Voters to craft specific legislation that will provide the best path to build a system that quickly generates income for operators and revenue for the state,” he said.
The informative conference will take place in mid-October.
