Cali Horse Racing Industry Pledges Support of Online Poker Bill AB 2863 Via Letter | PokerNews
The California horse racing industry has pop out in official support of online poker bill AB 2863 previous to next week's hearing within the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.
PokerNews.com has obtained a replica of the letter that nine industry leaders sent to Assemblyman Adam Gray, chair of the committee and co-lead sponsor of the bill.
In the letter, the industry expressed support for the bill with a couple of reasonable caveats:
- The $60 million annual payment to horse racing isn't changed. Assemblyman Gray told PokerNews last month that the figure was not up for negotiation.
- Tax rate and licensing fees (that have been left blank within the bill after being 15 percent and $15 million within the initial draft proposal), remain reasonable. So long as there is a little wiggle room at the originally proposed numbers, this should not be a subject matter. Racing's concern is that its $60 million comes from the costs collected by the state, which won't reach $60 million if the state isn't collecting that much from online poker.
- Any fair or association that ceases to supply live racing should not be eligible to take part within the fund. Just a bit inner-industry jockeying.
- Language is added to the bill clarifying that giving up the best to take part as an operator in online poker doesn't preclude a horseracing association from participating in any future Internet gambling activities allowed by the state, nor affect its ability to continue offering online wagering on horses.
The letter is signed by representatives of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Jockeys Guild, California Authority of Racing Fairs, CA Teamsters Public Affairs Council, California Throroughbred Trainers, Los Alamitos Racing Association, and SEIU California.
Also mentioned within the letter is that California is the one major racing state that doesn't allow its industry to take part in any alternate type of gaming revenues by either offering casino games or sharing in a percentage of slot-machine revenue, making a financial imbalance compared to New York, Florida, and Maryland.
The first hearing on AB 2863 is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, at 1:30 p.m. PDT in State Capitol, Room 4202. The hearing must be available to view live here.
As first reported by OnlinePokerReport, the bill received an amendment adding impartial language for suitability standards. The Pechanga coalition had made a request in February that such language be added to ensure that it to stay neutral at the legislation.
The new language specifies: "The bill would become operative when criteria are established by statute addressing involvement in Internet betting previous to the state's authorization of Internet poker pursuant to its provisions."
*Image courtesy of Marcelo Gerpe/FeeeImages.com.
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