Online Poker Report – The public was given a bit of insight into the mechanics bringing regulated online poker to California yesterday via an informational hearing on the subject in front of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization. Video of the meeting can be viewed and downloaded from the CalChannel archives (direct link to video file here). An agenda of the meeting listing all of the speakers is available here.
Much of the hearing, chaired by California Assemblymember Dr. Isadore Hall III, covered territory quite familiar for someone who follows the online poker industry. But among the dry recitations were some useful insights – some stated directly, others lurking between the lines – into how likely regulated California online poker is in the near term.
The point was made early, and it was made often: California’s tribal gaming interest are closer than ever to consensus on how best to approach regulated online poker. But while the general talk was of a group converging on agreement, the specifics of the hearing focused more on an issue that pits one tribe against a powerful coalition of others: so-called “bad actor” clauses in the two active bills to regulate online poker in California.
That conflict was illustrated in a forceful and public fashion when a press release announcing a partnership between PokerStars, The Morongo Band of Mission Indians and powerful cardrooms Commerce, The Bike and Hawaiian Gardens was released just as Morongo Tribal Chairman Robert Martin was condemning bad actor clauses as “smokescreens” designed to limit competition at the Assembly hearing.
