With the U.S. state of California likely to take up the issue of regulating intrastate online poker next year, the industry has taken another step toward persuading the Golden State. Free poker sites are being launched to target Californian residents, all as part of a ramping up of the poker industry’s influence.
On October 10, a tribal gaming group, made up of the Morongo and San Manuel bands of Indians, launched a website called CalShark.com. In September, the Barona tribe launched an online poker game on its website, Barona.com.
Ryan Hightower, a spokesman for the California Online Poker Association, made the purpose of those free online poker sites clear. “This is pretty much what online poker would look like as a real money game,” he said, indicating the free sites. “It will absolutely serve as an example of the popularity of online poker in California.”
Using free poker websites to gain influence and exposure is nothing new for the gambling community. Many real money online poker rooms use free poker sites in jurisdictions that don’t legally allow the real money sites. For example, PokerStars was not allowed to advertise its real money poker site, PokerStars.com, in the United States, so in order to advertise in the U.S. they ran ads for a free version of the site, PokerStars.net.
Two separate bills to regulate online poker in California were tabled earlier this year and won’t be addressed in 2011. However, the state legislature is expected to take up the issues again in the next legislative session, beginning in January.