California joins online poker debate
California’s legislature has received several legalisation attempts in the last decade.
US.- Californian Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer has set another attempt to legislate the online poker industry in the State by introducing the new Internet Consumer Protection Act. Online gaming industry in California has tried to path its way through legalisation in the last decade, with no previous success.
Reginald Jones-Sawyer has recently presented the Assembly Bill 1677 (AB 1677), which aims at allowing online poker operations across legal card rooms and authorised native tribes’ gaming centres. The operations fees would cost US$12.5 million and the approved license would be running for seven years.
The legislation would also enable racetracks to hold agreements with iGaming operators in order to offer a joint service. The State would create the California Horse Racing Internet Poker Account to control the activity and would set tax conditions for racetracks. The horse racing companies would receive an annual 95 percent of the first US$60 million generated per fiscal year.
The tax rates would depend progressively on online poker gross gaming revenue’s situation. According to regional media, if the gross gaming revenue is less than or equal to US$150 million, it will be taxed at 8.847 percent. When it reaches up to US$250 million, the rate is 10 percent. Below US$350 million, the tax rate is 12.5 percent. And greater than US$350 million, the rate is 15 percent.
