California online poker bill dropped for 2014

r players in California will have to wait until at least 2015 to play online, as a bill to legalise the activity was dropped by state senator Lou Correa.

The senator said that the one month remaining in the legislative session was not sufficient to pass a successful bill.

He said it needed further improvements and a broader consensus from card clubs and Indian casino operators before it could be passed.

"Internet poker is an important public policy. We need to make sure it's done right," said Correa, who introduced the bill and chairs the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, which screens all gambling measures.

One sticking point is a proposal to disqualify companies such as PokerStars that offered Internet poker to Californians before it was legalised. The clause is pivotal as PokerStars could account for at least 50% of the market.

In addition only 13 of the 59 tribes that offer casino gaming in California have agreed to the bill.

Some tribes like the San Diego-based Santa Ysabel have already launched online poker rooms, relying on tribal sovereignty for legal protection

"The politics of this aren't right for this to get rushed through by the end of this year,” said professor Nelson Rose, a gambling law expert. "The state is so large and there are so many tribes and they don't agree on anything.”

Land-based casino kingpin Sheldon Adelson has also spent $309,000 on lobbying firms to oppose online poker legislation.

Term limits mean Correa won't return to finalise his bill, but Rose believes legal online poker will eventually become a reality in America's most populous state.

The activity is currently regulated in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.