For proponents of Online Poker, it's not looking good in California. For the second year in a row, the Golden State is putting online poker on hold as lawmakers focus on more pressing issues. It's a disappointing situation, considering not long ago, California was seen as one of the leading candidates to legalize online poker.
Apparently a coalition of tribes are refusing to tackle any gaming expansion issues until the state does something about card rooms offering what are traditional house banked games via a player rotated deal.
With such a contentious backdrop, lawmakers do not plan on introducing legislation in 2018. It would mark the first time in over a decade that online poker will not be on the legislative agenda.
"The process was very contentious, and some people still need some time to heal," Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer says. "There's some other issues with tribes and cardrooms that probably need to be resolved before we can move forward with this thing."
This newest development is just one in a line of many nonsense issues preveneting things from moving forward in California. The first big issue revolved around which entities should be allowed to offer online poker, a debate mainly concerning the state's racing industry. After that was resolved, it was a problem with the suitability of Poker Stars, which led to a bill that would ban Poker Stars from California indefinitely. No surprise to anyone that Poker Stars backed out of the deal. And now it's the longstanding fight over house banked games at card rooms.
The tribes seem dead set on preventing anything from moving forward in California. Maybe a nice sabbatical from banging their heads against the wall on online gaming legislation is just what the lawmakers need for now.
