California
Bill Delayed
September 15, 2009
Although residents were hoping it would happen, the
California
poker bill is not quite ready for public consumption. The Morongo Indian
Tribe will release it once they are ready, but for now they are holding off
on all poker legislation for approval. They say that they're going to hold
off until 2010 to go before the state legislature with the bill as they feel
that there is more that needs to be done with it.
They say that they have been speaking with other tribes
throughout the state and many concerns have been raised. They say that they
want to address those concerns, and they want to make sure that the online
poker bill benefits everyone before they move forward. They knew that they
would get some form of opposition to the poker bill, and they know that that
is still coming. However they also know that if they have all of their ducks
in a row that it will be tougher to beat down the bill.
The original proposal is that of a cooperative agreement
between California's
tribes and card clubs, where they would all manage an online poker network
within the state. The Pechenga Tribe says that they have a long-standing
opposition to bringing in online poker. The Poker Players Alliance says that
they have concerns that this new poker agreement would only allow a small
group of operators within the state. They believe that it would shut out
many of the other operators are bringing in poker, and thus a limiting any
sort of poker incentives that might be offered in a competitive environment.
Many say that it is better that the tribes
waited to offer the poker bill. They say that if the economic situation
continues to go downhill, bringing in poker will be the least of their
worries. They know that the legislature would probably approve online poker,
because they would need the additional revenue that could come from such a
source. Legislators say that they are excited to see what the new poker bill
is, but they don't know if it will truly have many more changes than what
they initially saw.
