California lawmakers introduce 2 online poker bills

Sacramento Business Journal – State lawmakers have introduced competing legislation to legalize online poker. California has seen several attempts to legalize the game over the last five years, but the state’s powerful tribes opposed the legislation out of fear that online gaming would encroach on their brick-and-mortar casinos. The bills never made it out of committee. But in a development that is similar to the anti-marijuana lobby’s can’t-beat-them-then-join-them attitude, the tribes are coming around, said one Capitol staffer. It isn’t difficult to sign up for online poker today — the U.S. has seen a proliferation of illegal digital gaming from…