Tribes would be able to offer online poker games under a bill being considered in California.

Tribes with Class III gaming compacts would be allowed to offer the games. So would non-Indian card clubs, a supporter of the bill said.

“It’s a case of writing the bill so that it maximises revenue to the state and participating tribes and clubs. Once that is successful, it becomes a simple matter of having the vote because if everyone is in favour of it, it will pass. This means we’re probably going to be able to get the bill through in mid-summer,” Jim Tabilio, the president of Poker Voters of America, told EGRMagazine.Com.

Federal law bars Internet gaming but contains certain exceptions for Indian gaming. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is sponsoring H.R.2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, to regulate online gaming.

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California dreaming: America's most populous state considers legalising online poker (EGRmagazine.Com 6/18)