by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Jun 13, 2012 | Updated on Jun 13, 2012Of all the states attempting to pass online poker regulations, California seemed like one of the most natural fits. It easily had a large enough population to support its own segregated sites; with approximately 37.7 million citizens, it isn’t much smaller than Spain, which recently started its own online poker market. In addition, with California facing severe budget deficits, the revenue online poker would generate was attractive to many lawmakers.Unfortunately for poker players in the Golden State, however, it now looks like the chances of online poker regulations being put into place in California are now slim – at least for the near future. According to State Senator Roderick Wright, who introduced online poker legislation earlier this year, the odds of any such bill passing during 2012 are “less than 50-50.”A hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the bill in the Governmental Organization Committee, where it would then be voted on. However, Wright instead announced that he was pulling the bill – known as Senate Bill 1463, or SB 1463 for short – from the committee’s agenda due to his belief that the bill did not have the necessary votes in the committee to move forward.While many people in California support the idea of legalizing and regulating online poker – including most of the players in the state’s gambling industry – SB 1463 has struggled to gain the necessary support to be passed into law. Many of California’s card rooms and Indian tribes that operate casinos believe that Wright’s bill will allow horse racing tracks and outside firms too much power in the state’s online poker landscape, while other rules might actually shut out some smaller local tribes from participating as operators. Other tribal groups are against online poker entirely, fearing it will take away much of their live gambling revenue.While the bill appears to be shelved for the moment, Wright hasn’t given up on the idea entirely, and there is a chance he could try to move the bill forward later in the year, particularly if he can modify the bill to better appeal to the state’s gaming industry. Other lawmakers in the state are also considering pushing alternative versions of online poker legislation.
