This week we added an update box on the OSGA homepage so that visitors could see the movement on ANY of the Internet gambling legislation currently introduced in the House of Representatives. This area is updated as each new co-sponsor of one of these bills is added. However, this is only for Federal bills. In recent weeks several states have begun to stir the Internet gambling pot. Delaware and New Jersey are looking to add Sports Betting and an interesting bill on intrastate Internet poker has been introduced in California.

The bill that was introduced last month in California by Lloyd Levine (Assembly Bill 2026) asks the state to perform a study regarding authorizing intrastate Internet poker. This bill deserves some real attention from the players in California. This is a bill looking to legalize some form of Internet gambling! It is also a great challenge to the loopholes in the UIGEA, which, of course bans betting across state lines or country boundaries. The UIGEA does exempt three categories of transactions: intratribal, intrastate, and interstate horseracing. As defined, intrastate transactions are bets or wagers that are made exclusively within a single state, whose state laws or regulations contain certain safeguards.

This bill looks to have the findings of the study sent to the legislature by June 30, 2009. So far, it has gotten solid support in committee. Check out more on this bill, including an audio interview with the River City Group and Assemblyman Levine here.

One of the biggest reasons that these three states are looking earnestly at expanding gambling is each measure provides additional economic opportunities for the state. In both Delaware and New Jersey, recent reports have shown that gambling profits from casinos and slot parlors, and the taxes derived from them, are dwindling. That is why the New Jersey Senate last week had a debate over legalized Sports betting. In fact, NJ Sen. Raymond Lesniak is ready to sue the Federal Government claiming they are in violation of interstate commerce laws. Delaware’s House of Representatives approved a bill legalizing sports betting by better than a 2-1 margin, but this measure still has to get through the Delaware Senate and an anti-gambling govenor in Ruth Ann Minner.

We urge players to contact their State legislators and let them know that you support these measures and their efforts to see them become law.

Contact Califonia Legislators here.
Contact Delaware Legislators here.
Contact New Jersey Legislators here.