Re “Internet poker breaks pact with tribes” (Viewpoints, Feb. 16): When I read the California Tribal Business Alliance’s recent commentary on Internet poker, I was reminded of a quote attributed to the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.”
CTBA’s opinions are simply not supported by facts. The alliance distorts the truth when it comes to Internet poker.
Here are the facts. California is struggling with soaring deficits, and it is fiscally prudent to look at all options to bring in new revenue. Much like the gaming compacts that add millions of dollars to the state’s general fund, a legal, regulated and taxed intrastate Internet poker system would represent a new revenue stream legislators could count on annually.
No one knows the exact amount of revenue the state might receive from intrastate Internet poker, but we know a million Californians a week are playing poker on illegal Web sites housed offshore. Those games have no regulation and no consumer protections, and there’s no revenue going to the state.
CTBA wrongly contends that legalizing online poker in California would violate the tribal gambling compacts the state already has with California tribes. Morongo attorney George Forman, who has been involved in tribal issues for the last 40 years, clearly rebutted that contention at the Legislature’s Feb. 9 informational hearing on Internet poker.
Forman explained that the Legislature can allow Californians to play poker on their home computer or laptops without violating the state’s guarantee that tribes have the exclusive right to operate slot machines. Forman’s explanation matches that of a 2008 Legislative Counsel opinion.
The CTBA did not offer a contrary legal opinion to rebut the explanation provided by Forman and the Legislative Counsel, most likely because nothing in either the compacts or the law supports CTBA’s argument.
No one has ever suggested that an intrastate Internet poker system would close a $20 billion budget hole that California is facing. But budgets are built on many revenue streams that all flow into one place to pay for all the critical needs of Californians.
If a legalized, regulated and taxed system of intrastate Internet poker could provide one of these many revenue streams, California needs to give it serious consideration.
Time is of the essence. Every day we wait means millions of dollars in potential revenue that should stay in California leave California.