Regulated Online Poker California.
California also is the Golden State when it comes to online poker. Almost 12% of the total US population that is 21 or older lives here and before Black Friday California alone stood for 4% of the world’s online poker revenue. The Golden State is known as a bit of a trend setter. So it is no surprise many poker enthusiasts think that online poker will kick off for real in the US when the Golden State decides to regulate it. And the question is when rather than if.
There’s still a lot of work to be done here though. California held an online poker hearing bringing the state’s Indian tribes to a consensus and what to do about a “bad actor” clause.
PokerStars and their ally, dispute that the bad actor clause would limit competition which in turn would mean a smaller amount of tax revenue. Opposing tribes believe that all sites that operated in the US after the UIEGA should be punished. In the beginning of June 2014, 13 California tribes came to an agreement on a proposed online poker bill. Who was opposing this agreement? PokerStars and their partners, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Bicycle Casino, Commerce Club and Hawaiian Gardens Casino. The key point in the proposed bill that caused the conflict was of course a bad actor clause that would shut out sites, among them PokerStars. Fortunately for PokerStars, they have the Morongo Indians and the three biggest card clubs in California on their side.
Many believe that the Golden State will be the fourth state in the US to regulate online poker after New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware. Time will tell if this will be the case, but undoubtedly they have gotten pretty far in the regulation process. Unfortunately for the rest of the US they belong to the states that could survive on their own, without joining an interstate network and sharing player pools.
| Online Poker Status |
|
|---|---|
| Population 21 or older | 25.6 Million |
| Proportion of total US population | 11,89% |
| Live Poker | Yes |
| Estimated year for online regulation | 2015 |
| Probability - Interstate agreement | 5% |
Various online poker interests in California have been unable to agree on who gets into the market. But while these sides struggle with the plan, it’s pretty clear that the majority of Californians would welcome iPoker into the state. This much is confirmed by a recent survey by the National Research Institute (via All-In […]
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California recently held another hearing on online poker, where policy makers and various gaming interests discussed the matter. Overall, there were no tremendous breakthroughs that indicate the state is ready to legalize the game in the near future. In fact, there were three ugly issues that were a theme throughout the hearing; luckily, there was […]
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There are plenty of tribal gaming interests that would love to keep PokerStars out of California. However, the world’s largest poker site is definitely not going to let this happen without a fight. Not long after launching the website Californians4ipoker.com, which seeks to educate Golden State residents on poker, Stars is now running a radio […]
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PokerStars has faced its share of detractors in the potential California online poker market, including the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, which recently funded a radio ad to bash Stars. But this hasn’t deterred the world’s largest iPoker room since they launched a website called Californians4ipoker.com to educate Golden State residents. That said, let’s briefly […]
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With online poker growth stagnating in Delaware, New Jersey and Nevada, many U.S. players are interested to see which state will legalize the game next. After all, if another state legalizes online poker, then it increases the chance that they share player pools with other states and further liquidity. So what US states are on […]
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