According to published reports across the gaming landscape this week, California has hot some snags with regard to legalizing online gambling.
As of this writing, there are still just three US states legally offering online poker and betting for real money. Recently in California, however, thirteen Native American tribes banded together to accept online poker within the state.
But it hasn’t been smooth-sailing for online poker statewide.
There are two drafted poker bills being introduced in the state assembly of California, each having language that will not allow horse racing tracks from opening their own online poker rooms. This was a specific request by the Native American tribes. Poker Players Alliance Director John Pappas has concerns about not allowing horse racing tracks to participate and how that may hamper the recent strides being made in California.
On the other side of the coin, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, along with three popular California poker rooms, the Bicycle Casino, Hawaiian Gardens, and the Commerce Casino, have inked partnerships with PokerStars. Competition is a deciding factor when it comes to allowing racetracks to have poker rooms and neither the Tribal interests nor established poker rooms want any of it.
Pappas contends that compromise is not an option, but without some compromises being made to sort out the race track problem, the bills will all but certainly get shelved.
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