Wright Pulls California Online Poker Bill from Senate Meeting
Senate Bill 1463, considered California’s most realistic chance of seeing online poker legislation approved in the near future, suffered a setback today, after Senator Rod Wright pulled the bill from a committee agenda. The bill was pulled even before it came up for a vote.
The Senate Government Organizational Committee was set to vote on SB 1463 today, and there has been much media coverage regarding the meeting. The legislation was introduced four months ago and Wright and his supporters had worked hard to see the bill get its first airing today.
However, before the vote, Wright, who chairs the committee, announced that he had decided to pull the bill from the agenda. His announcement sparked an uproar in the meeting, with many spilling out into the hallway to discuss the latest dramatic developments.
Wright’s bill faced major opposition from a number of groups, including Native American tribes and it has been amended several times over the past few months. However, even those who support the idea of legalized and regulated online poker in California, aren’t able to support the smaller details proposed in Wright’s bill, including the fact that it shuts out tribes and gives too much power to the state’s horse racing industry, causing him to pull it from the Senate meeting prior to the vote.
In a poll conducted by the California Online Poker Association, it was shown that 76% of those polled supported the idea of online poker in California, however the majority wanted to see only poker legalized in the state and that it be limited to operators who are already regulated and active in the Californian gambling market.
“Voters don’t want California to become the Wild West of gaming,” noted one pollster. “Voters are OK with permitting it. But there have to be restrictions.”
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