Many bills have been proposed to California law makers by different politicians to try and legalize online gambling and online poker. As of now, none of the bills proposed have been passed or even close. However, in the midst of all the bills flying around some may wonder.. how is this affecting the land based Native American run casinos? The answer is split into both sides of the debate. Some tribes are very enthusiastic about legalizing online gaming because it will bring much more revenue to the casinos without having as many expenses for the operations of the casino, it’s employees and all of the other costs it takes to operate. On the other side of the spectrum, some tribes are against online gaming because they feel it could cost them revenue if the players don’t have to make the trip out to their casino.

One of the bills proposed, written by state Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana will only allow a handful of California governed sites to open their doors. So at first, not all casinos will be able to participate in the online gaming community. The bill also proposed that this operation will offer California 1,300 new jobs and revenues could be boosted by $7.5 billion dollars. Those who decide to participate in online gaming would however need to pay $50 million in upfront fees before their sites even open. If this all were to become legal, there would be a freeze on licenses being offered until 2016 to allow the first few casinos to recoup their investment after forking over the huge fees required to run tier casino.

This bill is also backed by the California Online Poker Association which is a party of 29 tribes and 30 card rooms. Every tribe and card room in California was extended an invitation to join the California Online Poker Association for a small fee of $1 however, some tribes did not want to participate because they are not for online gaming at this time. As of now, the state Justice Department has advised that they would need about 18 to 24 months to implement a system that can regulate online poker. Many of the bills like SB 40 would only allow 90 days to regulate and review the submitted license applications.

A website (allinforcalifornia.org) has been created for the public to visit for more information on SB 40, the main headline is “Keep our jobs and revenue here” currently over one million Californians are already playing online poker and contributing money to sites that are based over seas. This doesn’t sit well with the United States government because the country is in such need of jobs & revenue. This is another reason politicians are trying all they can to get bills like SB 40 passed within 2011 so they can look forward to profits in 2012.