One Bill Fails While One Passes in California

While one bill we were all hoping for didn't get passed another, the AB2026 did.  This bill will legalize online poker in California and was originally proposed by Democrat assemblyman Lloyd E. Levine.  It has made it past the state Senate Governmental Organization Committee in a 7 to 1 vote.

The bill amends the current state Gambling Control Act and will now allow state licensed operators to exclusively offer online poker to the citizens of California.

Levine's bill was originally proposed to study the legality, in terms of UIGEA, of an intrastate poker regime in California.  The study would be conducted by both the California Gambling Control Commission and the California Department of Justice and will report to the Assembly by June 30, 2009.

But since it got the okay from the committee back in April Levine changed the proposal's intent on Jun 18th to go for the implementation of legalized and regulated online poker in the state.  The bill will now move onto the Senate Appropriations Committee for fiscal review.