Analyst: California online poker a "missed opportunity"

[The Buzz]

Cantor Fitzgerald Canada analyst Ralph Garcea says it is "unfortunate" that lawmakers have "dragged their feet on the passing of an online gaming bill." He notes that New Jersey, which recently moved to allow online gaming, had a banner month in the typically slow July, with Internet Gross Internet Gaming Revenue up sharply.

Garcea says that with about a million online poker players in California the market is estimated to be worth more than $400-million, with a proposed 10 per cent tax on the table. He believes the state is missing out on a tax windfall that other states have jumped on.

“With California’s 2016 legislature session coming to a close on August 31, 2016, PokerStars will have to wait, unfortunately, until next year to see if the state will bring legalized and regulated poker to the state’s many users,” says the analyst. “This marks yet another legislative session where an online poker bill has not been voted on – no online poker bill has ever been voted on by the full Assembly. While California still tries to make up its decade-old mind, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware all have legalized and regulated online gambling – with New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan moving along the process.”

Read more from Canadian online tech magazine, Cantech Letter: http://www.cantechletter.com/2016/09...or-fitzgerald/

[Jan]

Hopefully the US online poker market will open up again at some point. Regulated and taxed.