California online poker bill vote delayed to consider new ‘bad actor’ amendment

California legislators punted on voting on the state’s online poker bill but promised to try again within the next two weeks.

On Wednesday, the California state Assembly Appropriations Committee convened to vote on Assemblyman Adam Gray’s AB 2863 poker bill, but uncertainty over some unpublished proposed amendments left legislators feeling they needed more discussion behind closed doors to make up their minds.

Committee chair Lorena Gonzalez apparently offered up several amendments to AB 2863 on Tuesday, details of which were revealed during testimony of Jeff Grubbe, who spoke on behalf of the Agua Caliente tribe, part of the coalition vehemently opposed to Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars brand having any role to play in California’s poker market.

Among these amendments (viewable here), Gonzalez proposed that ‘bad actors’, aka companies that were deemed to have illegally accepted wagers from California residents between Jan. 1, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2011, be barred from acquiring a license until Jan. 1, 2021. However, this ban could be sidestepped if an offending company pays $20m in back taxes.