Legal Online Poker – Coming to a State Near You!!
Poker is fun. Playing it involves not only a ton of luck – part of your success as a poker player depends on the cards you are dealt – but a lot of skill as well – after all, the outcome of a hand depends quite a lot on what you do with your cards. Playing poker is a preferred pastime for many and has been for a long time. Today, we have card rooms, weekly poker days and home games among family members and friends. There are times, in turn, when you feel like playing a few hands but can’t find the time, the energy or simply the opponents to play against. This is where online poker comes in – a service as close to the real thing as possible without all the fuss, without preparing sandwiches and running out for beer. And online poker could become legal in California relatively soon, and in other states of the country.
The state of online gambling in the US
The best word to describe the state of online gambling in the US would be “controversial”.
New Jersey has legalized online casinos and poker rooms. This doesn’t mean that its residents can visit All Jackpots casino online – offshore venues like the All Jackpots are still off limits for them. But the state has its own All Jackpots competitors, and they do quite well (this year, they have contributed about $100 million to the state’s budget, which is something) without contributing to problem gambling in the state. Poker rooms are not doing THAT well, yet they are a form of gaming preferred by many – and many Californians are looking at NJ with envy.
Other states that have already legalized online poker (not casinos) are Delaware and Nevada, and there are many that consider doing the same in the near future.
California card games
California has been a state with a long, ongoing discussion and a salvo of legal initiatives about online poker. The problem is that the state has many stakeholders, all with different interests, constantly putting spokes in each other’s wheels. And there are quite a few stakeholders present on the Californian market – casinos, card rooms, racetracks, and tribal operators all want a slice of the pie for themselves, on their own terms, of course.
At the current state of things, card rooms and tribal operators would automatically gain the right to offer online poker services to their patrons, and racetracks could also obtain licenses to offer such services. The state of the legislation is, in turn, a bit foggy, so no real progress is expected to happen this year – like in the last couple of years before.
