California iPoker Efforts Over For 2015

At the start of this year there were high hopes California would soon join Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey in offering regulated online poker. That aspiration, however, has now vanished after the 2015 California legislative session drew to a close on September 11th without the Golden State’s various disparate gaming interest reaching consensus on the issue.
Assemblyman Adam Gray’s bill, AB 431, came closest to getting a full vote after passing the Assembly’s Governmental Organization Committee in May, but in the end his shell bill only served to keep iPoker’s legislative hopes alive for the year. In the meantime, other bills, including those of State Senator Isadore Hall (SB278) and Assemblyman Mike Gatto (AB 9) failed to attract much attention in the legislature.
One year before Black Friday, California accounted for 16% of U.S. iPoker revenues, and 4% of the global market. It has since been estimated that a potential Californian online poker industry could generate more than $380 million in annual revenues for the state, but the biggest issue holding back legislation is the lack of agreement between tribal casino groups, card clubs, racetracks and other firms looking to be included in the biggest iPoker market in the U.S.
PokerStars, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and three large cardrooms, namely the Bicycle Hotel Casino, Hawaiian Gardens Casino and the Commerce Club, have banded together to form the ‘Californians For Responsible iPoker’ advocacy group, while the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians and a coalition of 10 tribes have been fighting to have race tracks venues excluded from any future iPoker framework.
Previously, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (photo) had said that there was a 35% possibility a Californian internet poker bill would pass by the end of 2016. Considering the discussions and progress since made on the issue, the odds of such a bill passing next year have most likely improved to at least a coin flip.