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New California Poker Bill Proposal |
 This week a California assemblyman Lloyd Levine proposed a new bill proposing research involving the legality of online poker in California. His bill would use the California Gaming Control Commission to study the possibility of allowing players to gamble using gambling systems housed within the state. The proposal doesn't intend to change the law, but rather see if current legislation would stop an attempt to set up this sort of system under the current guidelines for online gambling.
The primary focuses on the study, according to the bill, would focus on “regulatory oversight and licensing, technological issues, underage and problem gambling matters, methods of play and types of games that may be legally offered, economic benefits to state and local governments, and the means by which those games and forms of gambling may be conducted and operated.”
According to the bill the CGCC has until the end of June 2009 to finish work on the study. This exploration requires that they work with the Department of Justice to see if the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act would be encroached by setting up an in-state system to allow online poker in the state of California.
According to Levine, his understanding of the current law is that online gambling is legal as long as the gambler and the service provider are both located in the same state. Regardless of the outcome, his bill intends to get a concrete answer to that question and lay some ground work in the heavy gray area the arena of online poker has been surrounded by.
The bill does not as yet do anything to go about setting up an online gambling system, but only to inquire to its validity. It is a great first step into pulling back the curtain, however. A hearing may be scheduled for the bill as early as March 20th of this year.
February 22, 2008 |
