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Cali. Intrastate Online Poker Room Bill Moves Forward
BY: BOB PAJICH | [e-mail]
PUBLISHED: Thursday Apr 17, 2008 01:16 PM


A bill that would authorize the study of intrastate online poker in California moved forward yesterday when the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee (AGOC) unanimously sent the bill forward to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2026 calls for the California Gambling Control Commission and the Department of Justice to perform a study on authorizing intrastate online poker in California. If passed, the study is to be presented to California Legislature by June 30, 2009.

Democrat Assemblyman Lloyd Levine is the bill’s author. The hearing for the AGOC took place yesterday and featured testimony from bill proponents Poker Voters of America President Jim Tabilio and Rod Blonien, who represented the card rooms of Commerce Club, Hollywood Park, the Lucky Derby, the Lucky Lady, Garden City and Lucky Chances.

“Many of the clubs that I mentioned are maxed out on Friday and Saturday nights. We have more players than we have seats available,” Blonien said. “Many of those people go home and play online.”

Blonien went on to describe the online poker industry as an unregulated and dangerous place for American consumers.

“There’s no place that a law abiding Californian can go (online) and play a level game,” he said. “What Californians really need is a government regulated and fair website where they could go to play Internet poker.”

Concerns that the state wouldn’t be legally allowed to operate an intrastate poker room with the Federal law the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the Wite Act in place were answered by the state’s Legislative Counsel as requested by Levine.

The Legislative Counsel concluded that California would be allowed to operate an intrastate card room even with the rules of the UIGEA and the decades-old Wire Act in place.

One group opposed to the AB 2026 was the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, a group that wants to decrease the number of gambling options California residents have.