California Online Poker Likely A Matter Of When, Not IfState's Online Poker Efforts To Continue Throughout 2015 |
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Many people had high hopes for California online poker in 2015, but it appears at least a couple of years away right now. Implementation of an online poker network would take a little while as well, so the first site to launch in California probably wouldn’t happen until 2019 or 2020, according to industry estimates.
Interested parties are trying to figure out how to make the intrastate California web poker industry work. In other words, who should be allowed to dabble into poker right off the bat and who shouldn’t right away, if at all. It’s a high-stakes legislative battle that has been going on for years.
According to California-based Adam Krejcik of Eilers Research, California lawmaker Mike Gatto, who introduced his poker bill in December, said at a recent gathering of gaming interests and other insiders in Sacramento that going into this year he pegged the odds of an Internet poker bill passing in the state at about 50-50. Now, Gatto believes the chances for 2016 are 35 percent. In other words, his optimism has been severely downgraded over the past 12 weeks or so.
So far this year, four distinct proposals have been introduced in California that would lead to licensing and regulating online poker sites. The more bills the better, even if this year doesn’t hold much hope. More conversation in Sacramento is a good thing.
In February, PokerStars and Caesars announced that they would be lobbying together for online poker, which was a key development given Caesars’ position in currently regulated U.S. online gaming and the two companies once being on different pages.
According to various reports, some California tribal gaming interests might be warming up to the idea of PokerStars being involved. The world’s top poker site, now under the ownership of Amaya Gaming Group, is a great ally in pushing for online poker.
California has the nation’s top tribal gaming industry valued at $7 billion, which is a quarter of the entire nation’s tribal gaming market. A total of 69 tribal casinos are sprinkled throughout the Golden State.
A lot of online poker operators, including leaders like 888 and PartyPoker, would also be interested in California’s market, given the population of more than 37 million. It is worth noting that no California legislator has ever cast a vote on an online poker proposal, and it’s unclear if a historic vote will happen in 2015, but there’s reason to be optimistic.
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