“The current draft of the bill that has been made public is in five sections, the first of which contains declarations of findings regarding the current status of online poker in California. Noting the existence of “2,300 Internet gambling websites operat[ing] outside of the United States” and arguing that “the presence, operation and expansion of offshore, unlicensed and unregulated internet poker sites available to Californians endangers the current and future economic health of California gaming establishments,” the case is made for regulation of online poker in California.
“The bill proceeds to note how the UIGEA has done nothing to curb Californians’ access to unregulated poker sites, and argues that since the UIGEA does allow individual states “to permit Internet gambling within their own borders under certain conditions,” the bill is therefore proposing a process by which such regulation can be pursued. This interpretation of the UIGEA may well prove one of several matters that will be debated by legislators subsequently considering the bill.”
