As the California legislation session winds down for 2011 advocates of California Senate Bill 40, penned by State Senator Lou Correa, are making a late push in a last ditch effort to legalize and regulate online poker in the state before the next legislative session. According to the Sacramento Bee, the California Online Poker Association –backed by the Morongo and San Manuel tribes– has been buying ad-time on local TV and radio in an effort to get the bill to a vote on in the California legislature.

The TV ad begins by emphasizing the state’s budget shortfall, and then goes on to explain the money that could be rolling from legalized and regulated online poker. The radio ad is in much the same vein: “Unfortunately, nurses, police, fire and services for the poor and disabled will all be cut again if California doesn’t find $4 billion in new revenue by December,” the radio ad says. “There is a solution. By approving online poker, California has the ability to tap $250 million in new money immediately and billions in years to come.”

With California gaming such a big business, the state casinos and Indian casinos are split down the middle on online poker, with some seeing the potential windfall, while others feel it will cut into their brick & mortar casino profits.

With online poker legislation picking up steam in other states and at the federal level –Nevada has passed a bill that would allow them to immediately adopt any online gaming legislation at the federal level—California may not get too many more shots at legalizing online poker and securing those companies are within California borders, if and when online poker legislation is passed in the future.

Tags: Budget Shortfall, California Borders, California Legislation, California Legislature, California Senate, Casino Profits, Indian Casinos, Last Ditch Effort, Legislative Session, Morongo, New Money, online gaming legislation, Online Poker, Poker Legislation, Police Fire, Sacramento Bee, San Manuel, Senate Bill, Senator Lou Correa, State Senator

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 17th, 2011 at 9:54 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.