For the tenth year running it appears that the legalisation of online poker in California remains a dream unlikely to be realised.
The state Legislature ended its 2017 season on September 15 with no progress or apparent interest on Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer’s bill AB 1677, introduced in February this year and still languishing in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.
The conflicting interests and perspectives of tribal gambling bodies, state cardrooms, political action groups and online poker operators have ensured that year after year a plethora of legalisation bills from a number of politicians have foundered – usually at committee stage – in the Legislature, denying Californian poker fans the privilege of playing poker online, the state a fresh source of tax revenue, and operators the prospect of business from one of the most affluent and populous states in the Union.
The Legislature reconvenes on January 3, 2018 but it remains to be seen whether even tenacious politicians like Jones-Sawyer will be prepared to take another run at legalisation after a decade of failure to reach consensus.