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The bill which would allow gamblers to make certain kinds of bets legally online, was approved on Wednesday making way for the next hurdle, the vote on the House floor.

The August 01, 2023, By Zane Plate

A plan to legalize online gambling moves forward this week in the House of Representatives, which raised concern over the possible merits of the new plan, as it is feared that such legislation would eat into California’s gambling industry and would put thousands of jobs in jeopardy.

The bill, which would allow gamblers to make certain kinds of bets legally online, was approved on Wednesday by the Financial Services Committee, making way for the next hurdle, the vote on the House floor. Online gambling is surrently against the law in the United States, but sites featuring poker and other games exist offshore and outside American regulation. The committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, wants to legalize the popular sites within the United States, regulate and tax them. Supporters say that legalizing online gaming would create a whole new industry, creating additional jobs that would augment traditional casino gaming.

Proponents of the legislation say that it, along with a companion bill setting up the tax structure, would lead to more than $40 billion in revenue over a decade. But that number is based on the assumption that no state would exercise a provision in the bill allowing them to "opt out" via acts of their legislatures. .

Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, told Frank and other lawmakers that legalizing online gambling would threaten some of the 22,000 tribal gaming industry jobs in the state, as well as the $450 million in revenue California receives annually from the industry through tribal compacts. .

"California can not afford to see these revenues trimmed," Baca said during Wednesday's often testy committee hearing on the bill.

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