Legalizing “intrastate” Internet poker in California wouldn’t bring the state...

in Montreal next month. Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, chaired a nine-hour committee hearing on the subject in February and is scheduled to make a speech at the conference. Revenue estimates from taxing Internet poker range from $50 million a year if only a “modest number” of those playing on unregulated offshore websites migrate to a statewide system, to $1.5 billion a year if most players switch and the system enjoys “significant, sustained growth,” he said. But setting up the system could put at risk hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue-sharing from Indian tribes, a possibility not considered in the revenue estimates, he said. “The state would be lucky to realize a few hundred million [dollars] a year in the first five years of operation,” and that’s only after the courts rule on whether intrastate Internet poker violates tribal gaming exclusivity and puts revenue sharing at risk. Lawmakers have several concerns about authorizing poker, including the transparency of the system and how the state can ensure that players are physically located in California and are “live people,” not “robotic” players, Wright said. “Given the complexity and gravity of the issue, extensive time is needed” to consult stakeholder groups and create a “critical mass of support for any specific proposal.” Wright said he wants to know more about the advantages and risks of developing an intrastate system using varying numbers of “hubs,” given factors such as player liquidity, competition and system redundancy. California should try to get ahead of federal legislation, which could take “several years” getting through Congress, he said.