Californian casinos and poker players are locking horns over the issue of online poker. After the Commerce Casino announced they oppose the federal bills concerning regulating online poker in the USA, they were met with outrage from the players. Poker Players Alliance released a petition condemning the stance taken by the Commerce, and it has already been signed by 6,000 players.

The argument boils down to the fact that Commerce and other major land based casinos in California want intrastate online poker, not one that is regulated in Washington, and in their mind the players' interests come second. Because of this, PPA released a "Players Before Profit" campaign that has been signed by 6,000 players in short time, including names like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius.

After Commerce critized the bills, the most notable being the one proposed by Barney Frank, other land based casinos such as Bicycle, Hollywood Park and Hawaiian Gardens quickly voiced their support for Commerce. Commerce board members Haig Papaian and Tom Malkasian claim that PPA is "just one of many special interest groups receiving funds from illegal offshore gaming operators." As Commerce see it, they are the ones who are defending the rights of poker players against "illegal" operators.

This high stance is understandable considering what's at stake here. There are almost 37 million people living in California, 70% of which are connected to the Internet, and they are already wagering $13.4 billion annually online. Potential rewards for operators are huge.

"If domestic card casinos do not defend themselves from offshore interests, we stand to lose not only revenue but also the loss of jobs," Malkasian said in an interview with Poker News Daily.

PPA's John Pappas responded by reminding Malkasian that in Frank's bill the licensed operators are required to have at least 50% of their operations based in the US soil, meaning that federally regulated online poker would also create lots of domestic jobs. "It’s pretty clear their only concern is that they don’t want to compete," Pappas says.

Source: Onlinepoker.net.