Tribal Coalition Claim 52% of Californians Against iPoker Regulation

The Pechanga coalition has been doing its utmost to stymy any attempts to advance online poker regulation in California, and a few days after opposing a state Assembly vote on the issue, the six-tribe coalition has now released the results of a survey showing that 52% of Californians are apparently against legalised iPoker in their state.
The Pechanga coalition sponsored survey was carried out by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, and was released just in advance of a new Assembly Appropriations Committee vote on Adam Gray’s iPoker bill, AB 2863, that is scheduled to take place this Wednesday.
If the results of the survey are to be accepted, then the figure represents a turn around from the 54% of voters who said that they were in favor of internet poker regulation back in 2009. Moreover, it shows a significant decline in public opinion concerning iPoker, and commenting on the finding Pechanga Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro took the opportunity to take a sideways swipe at PokerStars, stating:
“Voters are clearly skeptical about legalizing online poker. Even more toxic are provisions that would grant a license to foreign websites that illegally took bets from Californians in violation of federal law.”
Despite its findings, the poker industry has responded by dismissing the questions asked in the survey as deliberately biased in order to help bolster the Pechanga coalition’s anti-online poker argument. The Poker Players Alliance has also criticised the coalition’s disregard for the rights of consumers, and as John Pappas commented this week:
“What are iPoker obstructionists offering? More years of keeping our heads stuck in the sand, more losses for players, and more years of leaving regulation up to complacent foreign governments. Surely even the obstructionists would agree that California regulators would do a better job. It’s time to do the right thing for California consumers and pass AB 2863.”