The California horse racing industry has pop out in official support of online poker bill AB 2863 ahead of next week’s hearing within the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.

PokerNews.com has obtained a replica of the letter that nine industry leaders sent to Assemblyman Adam Gray, chair of the committee and co-lead sponsor of the bill. Within the letter, the industry expressed support for the bill with a couple of reasonable caveats:

• The $60 million annual payment to horse racing isn't changed. Assemblyman Gray told PokerNews last month that the figure was not up for negotiation.
• Tax rate and licensing fees (that have been left blank within the bill after being 15 percent and $15 million within the initial draft proposal), remain reasonable. So long as there’s a little bit wiggle room at the originally proposed numbers, this shouldn’t be a topic. Racing’s concern is that its $60 million comes from the costs collected by the state, which won’t reach $60 million if the state isn’t collecting that much from online poker.
• Any fair or association that ceases to provide live racing should now not be eligible to take part within the fund. Just a bit inner-industry jockeying.
• Language is added to the bill clarifying that giving up the best to take part as an operator in online poker doesn’t preclude a horseracing association from participating in any future Internet gambling activities allowed by the state, nor affect its ability to continue offering online wagering on horses.

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