Adam Gray Previously Introduced Bills on School Reform, Electricity, Gun Owner Protection, and Law Enforcement Efficiency
When the Indian Country Online Conference takes place on June 10-11 at the Pala Casino Spa Resort in Pala, California, the future of online gambling in California could be decided. Those who’ve followed the California iGaming debate know that disagreements between the various tribal gaming enterprises in the state have kept the state legislature from approving online gambling.
The divisions between the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians are wide. The two tribes have radically different visions for Internet gambling in California. Gaming bills in 2014 went down to defeat because the two sides could not agree. Without one single viewpoint to defend, state lawmakers were unwilling to approve new gaming measures.
This week, the California State Assembly Appropriations Committee approved new gambling legislation unanimously. The bill approved was AB 431, a gaming bill introduced in February 2015 by Assemblyman Adam Gray.
AB 431 Provisions
Under AB 431, online poker casinos would be licensed and regulated by the State of California. Online casinos would continue to be illegal. The online casino aspect of California legislation is one of the key stumbling blocks.
Online casinos in New Jersey and Delaware have generated most of the revenue, so California is turning its back on significant tax revenues in banning online casinos. The existing operators do not want Internet competition, because they are afraid it will hurt their land-based customer base. Legislators like Adam Gray are protecting the industry at the cost of additional revenues for the state. This appears to be enough of a settled policy among the lawmakers in the state that debate on the issue is no longer serious.
PokerStars or Not?
The real contention in the legislation is whether PokerStars should be banned from California as a bad actor or not. Many tribes want PokerStars banned, because they broke US law after the UIGEA federal law against online gaming payment services went into effect. Some tribes have a deal in place with PokerStars, which would give them an advantage in the new market.
That is the reason the Indian Country Online Conference is so pivotal, because it comes at a time when decisions are being made by state lawmakers. A number of topics will be discussed which are important to a future Internet gaming industry in the Golden State, but this one is the key to whether the other issues are relevant at all.
Online Politics
The key discussion from the perspective of online gamblers is the discussion of the political topic, though. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indian have a deal in place with Amaya Gaming, which owns PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Those tribes naturally would like to see PokerStars enter the California gaming market, because PokerStars is the number 1 online poker company in the world. With a large database of players, PokerStars soon would dominate the market.
For the same reason, Pechanga and the majority of the other major competiros would like to see PokerStars online gambling banned from the state. They are that “bad actor” status be given to PokerStars, saying they acted in bad faith in continuing to take US players after 2001.
Indian Country Conference
A number of different panels are expected to take place at the event. One panel is expected to discuss the demographic profile of the gaming sites customers, including online casino players, mobile gamblers, social gamers, and fantasy sports players. One idea certain to be discussed is what percentage of online casino gamblers also bet in the land-based casinos, since the tribes do no want to see market cannibalization.
In all of the states which have legalized online gambling in the United States, the state government allowed licensing only for those operators who also have a brick-and-mortar gaming license. These companies partners with online gaming software developers who handle the technical side of the computer gaming business. Still, these are operators delving into a new industry. While it has many similarities to offline betting, online poker also has many differences. The iGaming panel discusses those differences, allowing potential new operators to understand what they might face.
Mobile Gaming Panel
Another session is expected to include a discussion of how mobile gamblers access the content. Customer integration is key in the newest way to gamble electronically. Mobile users do not access gaming content the same way, while they have different tastes in gaming entirely. Of course, newer and bigger devices like the iPhone 6-Plus could change the dynamics once more, so one session is going to focus on this discussion.
Social Gaming – Fantasy Sports
Two topics seldom discussed in past years which should receive significant attention are social gaming and fantasy sports betting. Social gaming takes place on sites like Facebook and Zynga. The panel is going to discuss how such sites affect their products, while also asking how the new iPoker industry would use such gaming options for marketing purposes.
Fantasy sports is a potentially lucrative way to bet. Fantasy football and its counterparts are legal under provisions of the UIGEA. After such laws became known, websites like DraftKings and FanDuel became billion-dollar companies with sponsors like NBA, ABC, ESPN, Comcast, and Disney. The tribal authorities will see if such an industry brings with it any opportunities for California gaming leaders, or whether daily fantays sports sites pose a risk to the traditional gaming community.
Igaming Strategies
One session is going to focus on strategies to make online poker sites successful. Techniques to be focused on are marketing, capitalization, and how similar industries might alter how online gambling works in California.
