Approval could mean up to $250 million a year for California coffers, but it's far from a sure bet.

By Patrick McGreevy

December 13, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento - With the state bracing for billions of dollars in budget shortfalls, a group of casinos is offering California leaders a stake in a new pot of money if they allow Internet poker sites to set up business in the state.

A consortium including the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Commerce Casino plans to take the idea to the state Legislature next month. The two would be among the gambling interests seeking to operate poker websites if the proposal were approved.

Gambling industry experts say $347 billion annually is wagered online globally, with millions of U.S. residents giving their credit card numbers to Internet sites so they can bet on poker games they play on their personal computers against other gamblers who are doing the same.

Federal law does not explicitly prohibit U.S. citizens from playing Internet poker, although there are restrictions on using financial institutions to transfer money for Internet betting, according to I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and an expert on gambling law. But federal and state laws prohibit the Web-based games from being operated in this country. The more than 1,000 existing Internet poker sites are based abroad, and the state is unable to tax them.