Online Poker Bill in California Passes the Committee

As reported by Chris Grove of the onlinepokerreport, online poker bill in California has made it unscathed through the first phase, as it passed the Governmental Organization Committee vote. This is an important development for this U.S. state as this is the first time that an online poker bill has been allowed to proceed to the next step.

Although there is still long way to go before passing the actual online poker bill in California, this is definitely more than a step in right direction. Dubbed AB 431, the bill serves more as a general guide for the online poker legislative than the legislative itself. Developments in the near future should prove crucial for the destiny of poker in California.

Coming next...

First on the agenda is the informational hearing, which should consider different aspects of gambling in California. Although the spectrum of the hearing is much broader than just online poker, it will definitely be one of the topics discussed at length.

After that, another hearing will follow and, although it will not focus at any particular bill or legislation, it will look deeper into the matter of legalization of online poker in California and discuss how prepared California is for the regulation.

Assembly Governmental Organization meets in July and this could be a critical point for the legislation. As Alex Dreyfus of the Global Poker Index noted, this is the first time there's been so much momentum going for the legislation. It is not anymore an if, he said, but a when online poker will come to California.

California gambling market

There are several potential disagreements that could arise in California and hinder the legislation. One of them involves the role that racetracks should play in the entire process. Furthermore, there is still a debate about the bad actors clause.

Other than these two major issues, there are smaller things that will need to be figured out before anything else happens, including tax rates, fess, and revenue sharing. Currently proposed tax rates are quite low in comparison to New Jersey, for example, and lawmakers will probably try to increase them, which could lead to conflict.

The estimates of the potential value of the California online poker market are quite diverse depending on the sources, ranging from $125mm to $729mm in Year 1. As for the market after reaching its maturity, the opinions differ quite a bit as well, with the lowest estimate being $204mm, while the highest one, by Capitol Matrix, puts it at $1,300mm.

Chris Grove believes that realistic expectation for the first year is in the region of $215mm, with an increase to $300-$350mm once the market reaches full maturity.

Although it is still a long road ahead, this is certainly very good news for California and online poker in the States in general. The legislation in this U.S. state would be an extremely important development for the overall future of online poker in the Land of Free.