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[QUOTE="calicard, post: 1835079, member: 84186"]
[b]California Looks to legalize internet poker[/b]

Reporting from Sacramento—                                                                                     	
                                                                   When state lawmakers convene again Jan. 4, their plates will be filled with leftovers.
 										 											 											 										                                                                                                                           Their agenda is expected to be  dominated by issues that have been unresolved in the last few years:  state budget problems, pension reform, a new water supply system and  legalizing poker on the Internet.
But lawmakers face a huge  distraction: The 2012 elections will be the first since their districts  were redrawn to make them more competitive. Many officeholders face an  uncertain political future.
The backdrop for those anxieties is  the state's persistently grim financial situation. The deficit is  expected to be nearly $13 billion for the new fiscal year that starts  July 1.
"That is the big issue of the year, how we continue to  grapple with the economic crisis," said Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez  (D-Los Angeles).
So officials are revisiting earlier ideas for raising money — besides increasing taxes, which Gov. [URL="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/jerry-brown-PEPLT007547.topic"]Jerry Brown[/URL] hopes voters will do on the November ballot.
One  revenue-spinner could be Internet gambling. Lawmakers held hearings in  2011 on a proposal that the state sanction certain websites for poker  and other gambling, with a cut of the action going to the treasury. The  matter was postponed until this year amid opposition from some Indian  tribes that see such games as competition for their brick-and-mortar  casinos.
Now, [URL="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/u.s.-senate-ORGOV0000134.topic"]Senate[/URL] President Pro Tem [URL="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/darrell-steinberg-PEPLT006319.topic"]Darrell Steinberg[/URL]  (D-Sacramento) has brought the two sides together in hopes of forging a  compromise that lawmakers will pass, according to Mark Hedlund, a  spokesman for the leader. Steinberg wants to regulate cyber-gambling  "while providing revenue — hopefully hundreds of millions of dollars —  to help us reinvest in public schools, higher education and public  safety," Hedlund said.
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