The California online poker bill was revised on Wednesday and it surely gives hope to the players when the hearing will be done next week. This also has given some hope to the players who were waiting for years to have some progress in this online poker issue.
The last time this online poker bill was voted was on April 2015 when an earlier version of Assemblyman Adam Gray’s legislation advanced out of committee. The bill was never looked again or modified the rest of the year. In the latest legislation that was introduced on February 19, the following additions were made to AB 2863:
“The bill would become operative when criteria are established by statute addressing involvement in Internet betting prior to the state’s authorization of Internet poker pursuant to its provisions […] The act that added this subparagraph shall not become operative until criteria are established by statute to address involvement in Internet betting prior to the state’s authorization of Internet poker pursuant to this chapter.”
The additions just denote that the so called “bad-actor” issue will again rise for the debate. Some players have also opposed PokerStars to bring on their players and play on their behalf as they were once in trouble with the federal government. Later on, they were discharged of the case as PokerStars was proved of not doing anything wrong.
PokerStars was launched in New Jersey on March but the brand is being hit with charges like insider trading in Canada by the former CEO of its parent company. The charges can make it a very difficult path for the brand as well as for the authorization of online poker according to Steve Stallings, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association.
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