California Poker Bill Right for Poker Players?
Written by Roger S | Monday, June 7th, 2010
Much fanfare was heard regarding the introduction of a new piece of legislation that will allow the creation of an intrastate online poker site in the state of California. The bill, introduced by State Senator Rod Wright (Inglewood, Democrat), has the potential to help California out of financially troubled period, where its budget deficit is expected to climb near the $20 billion mark by 2011.
When packaged this way – as a means to help Californians out of their financial hassles – there is possibly nothing on the surface that could be found wrong with such as bill. Californian poker players get to enjoy a regulated gaming environment and the chance to engage in their favorite form of entertainment, while the state gets to keep the money traditionally spent on online poker within its borders.
But what the PR guys who are pushing this bill forgot to emphasize is that the bill makes it illegal for any form of poker or gambling pastime to be engaged in that is not endorsed by the state. As the bill states: “the bill would provide that it would be unlawful for any person to play any gambling game provided over the Internet that is not authorized by the state pursuant to this bill. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.”
Another issue that was pointed out by Professor Joseph M. Kelly of Buffalo State College (NY) was that the state will have the power to arrest poker players who prefer to take their entertainment to non-endorsed sites. At the moment, this is not the case in California, and while the UIGEA may make cause certain obstacles when funding poker accounts, it does not actually make it illegal per se for Americans to play at online poker sites.
A new state law will thus criminalize online poker playing in California (unless done at the state sites). “It just doesn’t make sense to make it a crime,” said Kelly. Meanwhile, a state run online poker site would completely go against any World Trade Organization (WTO) treaties, thus making this even more complicated and illegal for the US to do so.
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
