California is considered to be one of the closest states in the US to regulating online poker. In fact, some gaming analysts believe that the Golden State will legalize internet poker before 2014 ends. But one prominent person who doesn’t see this happening is Whittier Law School Professor I. Nelson Rose.
One of America’s leading experts on gaming law, Rose does believe that online poker is eventually coming to California. “I don’t have any doubt we’ll have legal online poker in California,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. The attorney added that California’s government views poker as a great way to produce some much-needed tax revenue. However, Rose strongly believes that politicians will put the online poker issue off for at least 12 months because 2014 is an election year.
Aside from upcoming elections, Rose also thinks that Indian tribes are slowing down California’s path towards regulated internet poker. Like many other land-based casino owners, the state’s Native American tribes are fearful that online gaming will hamper their business. As Rose said, “The tribes have done a tremendous job of using the wealth generated from gaming to gain political power.”
But even with opposition from the tribes, California internet poker seems to merely be a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if.’ Washington, D.C. gaming expert and attorney Jeff Ifrah backs up this assertion. He told the Chronicle that California will be more motivated to pass an online poker bill after seeing the lack of security problems that other states are having. Ifrah added, “California coming online would dwarf any success that those other markets (New Jersey, Nevada) had.”
If both Ifrah and Rose are indeed correct in their assumptions, we could see regulated online poker in California by 2015. And this would have a huge impact on poker, given that this state is home to over 38 million people. Additionally, California would have the world’s sixth largest economy if it were a sovereign nation. So we can only imagine how huge the state’s online poker operation would be when/if it goes live.