The State of California is nearing bankruptcy, according to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  In order to halt bankruptcy in the state, California lawmakers have drafted a bill called the California Online Poker Enforcement Act Compliance and Consumer Protection Act.  Under this legislative piece, online gambling would be legalized within the California borders. 

The legislation s introduced by California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, who has for a long time been looking into online gambling as a way of increasing the state’s revenue.  Now it appears that the bill has the impetus and the proper economic environment to pass.  The bill discusses the fact that the citizens of the continue to spend over a billion dollars annually on online gambling.  The revenue goes to the offshore gambling websites who are doing quite well, despite present legislation prohibiting gambling on offshore sites.

It is not so much that gambling is perceived as something detrimental to the health and welfare of the citizens of the   No government should be making those decisions for its people in a so-called “free” land.  The essence of the ban was that the was not collecting tax on profits made by citizens by online gambling.

With this California legislation now under serious debate, the law would implement and create a licensing and regulatory structure and system to allow gambling establishments to operate government-regulated Internet poker wagering Web sites.  In actuality, California believes that it can better protect its citizens by operating the same type of games they are playing online on offshore websites, and regulating these games themselves. 

According to the bill, license to operate Internet poker sites among other states will be issued to current gaming establishments already licensed by the State of California and to California tribes with gaming compacts. 

 The Gambling Control Commission and the Bureau of Gambling Control under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice will be responsible for formulating a structure for regulation and licensing of intrastate poker so that it remains within the guidelines of the UIGEA, the law that bans overseas gambling in the

Persons from the spend millions on online gambling, and California wants to keep a portion of those revenues in its own coffers.  It could ultimately be the deciding factor in the avoidance of state bankruptcy.