Online Poker And Sports Betting
Sports Betting Online Poker Games
Sports Betting Online Poker

Anyone who has followed California’s futile efforts over the years to legalize online poker knows not to get their hopes up. It only ever results in disappointment.

Sports have been widely postponed in the real world for over a month now, but gamblers are finding ways to get their fix electronically. There are eSports and virtual sporting events dotting the landscape now, but there is an old, trusty version of gambling in online casino games. In the gaming industry, online poker — all but ignored for the past decade because it wasn’t driving business like land-based casino games, online casino, and, since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling overturning PASPA, sports betting — is back on the radar of every operator. Those who offer it are grateful, and those who don’t are envious. Any online casino will offer bettors real money gambling options on a range of games including casino table games, slots, sports betting sites and poker rooms. When choosing a casino site, find one that offers decent casino bonuses, a wide variety of games and decent odds to maximize your chances of winning real money when gambling online. Poker Betting Online Betting on poker games has become one of the most popular types of online betting in recent years. Poker on the internet includes all the popular games and formats that people have been playing for decades. This includes many popular variations such as Texas Holdem and Omaha, plus cash games and tournaments of all stakes. The online betting legalization efforts have been focused on online sports betting (infancy stage bills), poker and there have been no efforts to legalize other forms of online casinos. Given the strenuous opposition to poker and sports wagering, any sort of other online expansion of gambling is likely to be opposed by the tribal casinos.

But while online poker has turned into a busted flush (more on that later), perhaps regulated sports betting stands a better chance of becoming a reality.

If the Golden State did give the green light to sports wagering, it would be the biggest domino to fall since PASPA’s repeal last year.

Besides boasting a population of almost 40 million, California is also the country’s wealthiest state. In fact, if it were a country in its own right, its $3 trillion economy would be the fifth-largest in the world.

Furthermore, sports-loving California is home to 19 major professional sports teams, easily eclipsing any other state.

Jennifer Roberts,associate director of the International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said, “California is certainly an attractive state for regulated sports betting because of the size of the population and the number of college and professional sports teams.”

These factors alone clearly indicate California would be a mammoth market if state-sanctioned sports betting was permitted.

Boutique analyst firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming forecasts that California could generate as much as $2.1 billion in annual taxable revenue from legal sports betting. That’s if the legislation includes mobile wagering.

By comparison, NewJersey generated $200 million in revenue from nearly $3 billion in bets in the 12 months following sports betting’s launch in June 2018.

California’s gambling stakeholders

Certainly, achieving legalized sports betting won’t be easy, though, especially as various parties have skin in the game. CA’s key stakeholders in gambling are:

The tribes
The card rooms
Horse racetracks
The CA Lottery

There are more than 60 tribal casinos throughout California. The dominant tribes are controlling gaming in the state, an industry worth around $8 billion in revenue a year.

When it comes to sports betting, the tribes are opposed to having to reopen their agreements with the state. They are also against splitting the gambling market with the likes of the tracks and the card rooms.

As well as casinos, more than 70 legal card rooms of varying sizes are in California. However, individual rooms offer player-banked versions of casino games, like blackjack and baccarat.

This means players take turns to assume the role of the house, and the card room takes a cut of the action. This shrewd workaround of the law led to tensions with the tribes for years and was the subject of a recent lawsuit.

However, a trio of tribes lost the case in federal court in the summer.

Is California wagering ‘a zero-sum game’?

While the resolution to this dispute gives the prospect of sports betting and online poker a slight boost, we are still a long way off the main stakeholders seeing eye to eye.

RichardSchuetz, who spent four years as commissioner for the California Gambling Control Commission, said, “The three industrial actors (tribal casinos, card rooms and tracks) basically treat any expansion of wagering as a zero-sum game.

“That is, if one benefits, it hurts the others. And then there is always a challenge as to what the constitution and the tribal compacts allow, and that often becomes confused by the different actors.”

Meanwhile, Roberts said, “The addition of a new form of gambling raises complicated questions, such as who will be allowed to offer it: state lottery, card rooms or tribes. And whether it impacts any exclusivity, compacts or authorized forms of gambling.

“I don’t see (legislation) going anywhere until these key stakeholders can come to an agreement.”

Online Poker And Sports Betting

What needs to happen for California sports betting to pass?

For sports betting to become a reality, California needs to pass a constitutional amendment.

The first step to kickstart that process began in June. For the second year running, AssemblymanAdamGray and state Sen. Bill Dodd introduced an amendment in their respective chambers.

Legislative rules mean bills with tax implications need a two-thirds majority to pass in both the Assembly and the Senate. California voters also have to give the green light to the amendment by a straightforward majority.

The earliest an amendment could be put on the ballot would be in November 2020. Issues relating to the cost of licenses, tax rates and who could offer sports betting would be decided later.

That means we would likely be looking at sports betting launching in California in late 2021 at the earliest.

That would be three-and-a-half years after PASPA’s repeal. And even then, it would also probably be restricted to land-based venues, at least at first.

However, Jim Ryan, CEO of the online arm of California’s Pala Band of Mission Indians, which is behind PalaCasino.com in New Jersey, remains skeptical.

“There needs to be a constitutional amendment, which the residents of California need to vote on in a ballot. I just don’t see the will to do that at this point in time based on the discussions we have had with the various tribes in the state.”

Schuetz is equally pessimistic about progress in 2020. “My guess is you will see some lobbyists, lawyers and legislators make money by making some noise about sports wagering, but at the end of the day, nothing will pass. It will mainly just be a dance that seems to happen year after year after year.”

But what about California online poker?

Efforts to legalize online poker in California have been going on for more than a decade.

Alas, lawmakers have failed to pass a bill in all those years, while key stakeholders struggled to agree on the framework for online poker.

Although no constitutional amendment is required, there still needs to be a two-thirds majority for it to be given the go-ahead. However, hopes are fading for Californians ever being able to play regulated online poker.

“I would make online poker a huge underdog for legalization in 2020,” Schuetz said. “It is an election year, and the conventional wisdom is that this is never a good time to make an effort to pass ga

Sports Betting Online Poker