The California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed a bill regulating online poker within the state on Wednesday, sending it to the whole chamber for a potential vote.The committee approved AB 2863 on Wednesday.

A vote have been scheduled to happen last week, but that was delayed as amendments were added to the bill. The amendments that were floated last week were inserted to the bill this week, and included:

• A “bad actor” clause that excludes online poker operators that accepted California players after the passage of the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Sites that did so could pay an added $20 million fee or wait five years to use for licensure. (Previously, the amendment’s line for bad actors was drawn in 2011.)
• The use of accrued assets — akin to player lists — from such operators could be limited by regulators.
• Ten percent of all gaming revenue collected by the state would visit the state’s General Fund, whether a $60 million threshold for a subsidy to the pony racing industry is reached.
• Half of the $12.5 million deposit paid by licensees can be offset by reduced taxes on gaming revenues.

The committee expressed a typical refrain that we heard in 2015, and earlier this year when the bill passed the Governmental Organization Committee this spring: The bill was the made from a large number of effort by bill sponsor Adam Gray, nevertheless it needs more work.

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