California’s new online poker bill makes it a felony to play on international sites

California’s new online poker bill has received the blessing of the usual suspects, while those who have traditionally stood opposed have yet to indicate any willingness to retreat from their line in the sand.

On Friday, Assemblymen Adam Gray and Reggie Jones-Sawyer filed a draft of AB 2863, the state’s latest attempt to authorize legal online poker play. The bill is largely similar to a revised draft of Gray’s AB 431 bill that was filed last month, although some of that draft’s fiscal specifics have been expunged.

The revised AB 431 specified a tax rate of 15% of gross gambling revenue and initial license fees of $15m, which would serve as a deposit from which monthly tax revenue would be deducted. Both these figures have been removed from AB 2863, likely due to pushback from stakeholders, who insisted that AB 431’s economics didn’t leave room for profits.

The most significant new detail of the revised AB 431’s has remained, i.e. the promise to funnel up to $60m per year of the state’s share of online poker revenue to state racetracks, on the condition that the tracks give up the right to join tribal casinos and state cardrooms in offering online poker.