Poll: Is 2014 the year California finally legalises online poker?

Operators with an eye on the US online gambling space have long held out hope of permissive regulation in California, and recent activity suggests 2014 could finally be the year progress towards a $1bn market is finally made.

The past few months have seen the state’s most influential tribes collaborate over online poker legislation, having spent recent years fighting over if and how the state should regulate the product.

Currently there are two bills in play, the Pechanga-backed AB2291 and SB1366, sponsored by Senator Lou Correa and backed by a coalition of 12 tribes. The bills differ in language over license fees, compacts and tax rates, but many believe a streamlined bill agreed by all parties is on its way.

California gambling regulator Richard Schuetz, who believes progress is on the horizon with the tribes working together to get a bill passed, expects GGR from online poker to be worth $500m in the first year alone. Others have estimated the market to be worth around $1bn.

Meanwhile the battle over the California internet poker market has intensified after several tribes including Pechanga and Rincon urged the state regulator to prevent post-Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) operators such as PokerStars from obtaining an online poker licence.

However PokerStars returned fire last week saying it supported the “highest standards of suitability” and suggested that the tribes were trying to prevent operators from outside of the US from claiming their share of what is expected to be the largest internet poker market in the US, and possibly even the world.

With this in mind this week’s eGR Poll asks whether 2014 is finally the year that California legalises internet poker, or whether differences between the influential tribes and card rooms will see another legislative session pass by.

Do you agree? Have your say on the right-hand side of the page.