A proposed California law, Assembly Bill 2863, seeks to make internet poker legal, but it requires modifications before enactment. The legislation, sponsored by Assemblymember Adam Gray, easily cleared the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee in April with unanimous support. Currently, though, it’s undergoing substantial revisions.
California gaming lawyer David Fried suggested these changes to address uncertainties in the original bill. These encompass details regarding taxation levels, licensing costs, and a contentious provision related to “bad actors.”
This “bad actor” provision originally prohibited companies that continued taking online wagers from US players after December 2011 from receiving a California license. This would have excluded businesses like PokerStars, which withdrew from the US market in April 2011. The proposed modification presents a possible reprieve. It proposes that operators could still be eligible for a license if they demonstrate that crucial personnel involved in ignoring the cutoff date are no longer affiliated with the applicant, or if the wagers in question “transpired within a justifiable timeframe” after halting US operations.
Fried’s additional amendments include raising the licensing fee from $10 million to $12.5 million and connecting the tax rate operators would pay to their total gaming income.
The core of the AB 2863 modification is specific. Should it become law, it would solely authorize internet poker within California. Alternative gambling options are excluded. The concluding version of the legislation is anticipated to be presented to the California legislative body sometime in the current month.
