I have always thought that California would be one of the US states that would welcome into their legislation the idea of legalizing online poker. It would seem the state is also looking to try and work things out so that online poker can be played legally, but they are being held back. With only a few more weeks in the legislative session, Democratic state Sen. Lou Correa of Santa Ana decided it was best to postpone the proposal until the next year, so that they could polish the details.
However, it isn’t only that the senator wants to make sure the proposal is perfect, but there are other forces acting against online poker. The owner of Las Vegas Sands Corp., Sheldon Adelson, has been pretty open about his dislike for online gambling; where he has even invested a nice amount of his money to stop legislation in this matter. Adelson has spent $306,000 in the past nine months to stop the online poker bill from passing in California, but what makes things worse is that California doesn’t even have any intention on legalizing any other forms of online gambling, just poker.
This would make Adelson the Grinch in the matter, seeing as how he believes that if online gambling is permitted all of his casinos would lose money. This has already been proven to be false in Delaware, New Jersey, and especially Nevada; where it seems gambling in casinos has actually risen. You can thank big time poker events like the World Series of Poker, and other big name poker tournaments that use actual casinos to hold their events. This has increased the amount of poker players to actually go and play at the casinos.
They are totally different experiences, and each person should have the right to decide which they would prefer. I know that if Adelson kept up with technology, he would be advocating for the legalization of online poker, just so he could introduce his online Sands poker rooms and casino. Besides, what seems to be happening is that in order for an online casino to operate they must be licensed through a brick and mortar casino. In the end, people’s irrational fears will delay the inevitable for only a while, since change will always win.
Great Schnauzer 