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- Dec 16, 2004
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Bet on this: The political landscape on California gaming is about to change
Lobbyists, lawyers and other sharks showed up Wednesday for the first legislative hearing held by Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Roderick Wright on his latest plan to legalize Internet gambling. Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, is pushing a competing bill at the behest of a major Southern California casino tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and something called the California Online Poker Association, which represents 29 tribes and 13 card room-casinos.
It’s not clear that the state can collect payments from tribes, but there is no doubt that the state could collect taxes from non-Indian gambling interests. Advocates estimate that a million Californians gamble a total of $1 billion a year on offshore poker Internet sites that are illegal under federal law and pay no taxes.
Brown is open to Internet gambling and the money it might raise, telling me early last year: “I don’t think it can be stopped. If it can’t be, then there ought to be some way that the state can derive some tax revenue from that.”
Many politically powerful tribes will oppose Internet gambling and could no doubt block its passage, at least for a time.
But here is a sure bet: Gambling advocates will attempt to seize the opportunity created by California’s budget crisis and tantalize lawmakers with the promise of hundreds of million of dollars, sufficient to, say, save day care for the infirm elderly from the budget ax or maintain precious tax breaks for their friends.
By DAN MORAIN
Lobbyists, lawyers and other sharks showed up Wednesday for the first legislative hearing held by Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Roderick Wright on his latest plan to legalize Internet gambling. Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, is pushing a competing bill at the behest of a major Southern California casino tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and something called the California Online Poker Association, which represents 29 tribes and 13 card room-casinos.
It’s not clear that the state can collect payments from tribes, but there is no doubt that the state could collect taxes from non-Indian gambling interests. Advocates estimate that a million Californians gamble a total of $1 billion a year on offshore poker Internet sites that are illegal under federal law and pay no taxes.
Brown is open to Internet gambling and the money it might raise, telling me early last year: “I don’t think it can be stopped. If it can’t be, then there ought to be some way that the state can derive some tax revenue from that.”
Many politically powerful tribes will oppose Internet gambling and could no doubt block its passage, at least for a time.
But here is a sure bet: Gambling advocates will attempt to seize the opportunity created by California’s budget crisis and tantalize lawmakers with the promise of hundreds of million of dollars, sufficient to, say, save day care for the infirm elderly from the budget ax or maintain precious tax breaks for their friends.
By DAN MORAIN
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