Fresh Attempt At Online Poker Legalisation In California

FRESH ATTEMPT AT ONLINE POKER LEGALISATION IN CALIFORNIA

11th December, 2025 at 04:26:14

Source: bluffed.net

Never-say-die Senator Rod Wright plans another run at intrastate legalisation in January 2025

Despite repeated setbacks in his attempts to get an intrastate online poker legalisation bill through the California Legislature, Senator Rod Wright has revealed that he plans to embark on another run at the issue in January 2025.

At the centre of his initiative will be an unamended version of his original SB 1463, the subject of both support and controversy as various tribal and commercial parties with vested interests in dominating any legalised market clashed over its provisions.

One of the main groups pushing for advantage was the California Online Poker Association, an alliance of 31 Californian cardrooms and 29 tribal groups that had its own ideas on how the Wright bill should be amended. Following the break-up of that alliance last October, the path may be a little smoother for a fresh approach by Sen. Wright.

SB1463 was withdrawn by Wright just prior to discussion by a state Senate committee last June (see previous report), allowing the Senator and co-author Sen. Darrell Steinberg more time to negotiate the bill through the demands of a diversity of interested parties that included horse-racing interests, tribal groups and commercial cardrooms.

However, it was clear by the end of August this year that the duo had not been successful in marshalling sufficient support.