Efforts to legalize real-money online poker in California this year are likely dead, but that doesn’t mean stakeholders in a future industry there aren’t already gearing up for the long road ahead next year and possibly beyond.

The most recent firm to form a partnership for online poker in the Golden State was Louisville-based Churchill Downs, according to a Thursday report from The Courier-Journal. The deal is with Crystal Casino & Hotel in Los Angeles and Ocean’s 11 in Oceanside, which are under the same ownership. The partnership means the groups would work together to bring a poker site to the market and share in the profits. California is the largest potential I-poker market in the country.

“It is a huge market, a high population, a rich population, a gambling population,” as one high-stakes poker pro recently put it. It has been estimated that it could be worth more than $380 million a year.

Amaya Gaming Group, which owns PokerStars, has relationships with the likes of Commerce, The Bike and Hawaiian Gardens should California ever regulate the games.

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