As the end of August draws near, it is becoming more and more unlikely that California will be able to present new legislation that will legalize and regulate intrastate online poker. While every effort is being made to push the bill through by interested parties, Senate President, Democrat Darrell Steinberg said that he believes that the legislation is unlikely this year.
Steinberg told reporters this week that while last ditch efforts were being made to try and push the legislation through in the last couple of weeks of August, there were still many battles among interested parties as to how the bill should be worded and what should be left in or out. As such, a consensus has not been reached between all these entities, which will result in the delaying of the California internet poker bill once more.
Because so many parties are involved, ranging from California horse tracks to card clubs, casinos and tribes, it seems that appeasing one group automatically results in another group rejecting the concessions made – with no progress made on any front.
Nevertheless, there are some which still believe that an agreement can be hammered out by the end of August. The Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians, for example, said that it was still trying to work out acceptable language for the bill with the California Online Poker Association, which is one of the chief opponents of the current language of the Wright-Steinberg bill.
Whether the parties involved manage to reach an agreement until August 31st will have to be seen, but until then, every effort will be made to find middle ground and see online poker become a reality in California once and for all.