Assemblyman Hall attended Kentucky Derby as fact-finder, fundraiser

  The owner of the racehorse I'll Have Another was not the only Southern Californian to leave the Kentucky Derby a winner over the weekend.

State Assemblyman Isadore Hall III (D-Compton) attended the Triple Crown event as part of a fact-finding trip on the racing industry and said he also came home from the trip with some contributions for his re-election campaign.

"I had people there who contributed to my campaign,'' Hall said, declining to talk about who wrote checks for the less than $20,000 raised. He filed campaign reports indicating he deposited several contributions from out-of-state firms this week, including Southern Wine and Spirits of Miramar, Fla.; Bristol-Myers Squibb of Washington, D.C.; and Federal Express PAC of Memphis, but the reporting does not indicate where the contributions were delivered.

Hall is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization, which oversees the horse-racing industry in California. He said taxpayers did not pay for his trip and he did not bet on a horse.

Hall came away from the grand sporting event convinced that California can do more to build up its horse racing.

"It's a dying industry in California. That's unfortunate,'' Hall said. "We have to do everything we can to restore horse racing in California and make sure that we are creating an environment in California that is conducive to that.''

Hall has authored several bills to help the industry, including one pending measure that would increase the number of races a California horse-racing association may import live by television from out of the state.

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Photo: Exercise rider Johnny Garcia rides Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another. Credit: Patrick Semansky / Associated Press

California sports-betting bill advanced by Senate panel

Gamblers may one day be able to legally bet on Lakers and Dodgers games in California under a measure that moved forward Tuesday in the Legislature.

The bill was approved unanimously by the state Senate Governmental Organization Committee on its way toward the Senate floor, but even if the Legislature enacts the measure, sports betting could not begin until the federal government also lifts a ban on the activity.

Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles) predicted the federal ban would be lifted and said his measure would mean significant new money for the state's depleted treasury, stopping the cash from instead going to Nevada or other states exempted from the federal ban.

"Californians spend multiple billions of dollars going to places where this is legal," Wright told the members of the committee he chairs. The measure would allow sports betting at existing California horse-racing tracks, card clubs and Indian casinos, and was backed by the California Gaming Assn., a group of 71 poker halls.

The measure was opposed by Rev. James Butler, head of the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, who said it would increase problem gambling and jeopardize the integrity of sports.

 Sports betting, he said, "is rife for the potential of corruption."

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Internet poker battle waged in Sacramento

A group of casino operators has taken to radio and television with ads urging state lawmakers to legalize Internet poker in California, prompting opponents to step up pressure for legislators to table the proposal for the year.

The ads by the California Online Poker Assn. say legalizing web-based poker could help the state avoid deep budget cuts. The spots started airing in the Sacramento area this week. Legislators are less than a month away from the deadline to act on bills this year.

“Online poker will provide California with $250 million dollars immediately and billions more in the future,’’ said Ryan Hightower, a spokesman for the association.

The group includes Commerce Casino, Bicycle Club, Hollywood Park Casino and operators of American Indian gaming facilities, including the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

Other American Indian tribes have joined the California Tribal Business Alliance, which Tuesday sent a letter to legislators asking them to drop two pending pieces of legislation for the year.

The alliance includes the Pala Band of Mission Indians, which operates a casino near Temecula. The alliance argues that Internet poker could take customers away from brick-and-mortar casinos.

"There are numerous stakeholders who stand to be irreparably harmed should legislation be 'ram-rodded' through this legislative year, and this surely would be a disservice to all Californians, tribal and nontribal alike," Robert H. Smith, chairman of the alliance, wrote in the letter to lawmakers.

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Lawmakers voice support for sports betting

The state Senate on Friday weighed in to support New Jersey in its effort to overturn a federal ban on sports betting in most states, but Californians should not count on being able to wager on their favorite team anytime soon.

The Senate approved a resolution by Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) urging the president and Congress to remove the federal ban on sports wagering that applies to all but four states.

The resolution also asks Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to "take legal action" to "challenge enforcement" of the federal law, including filing a court brief supporting New Jersey’s lawsuit to overturn the ban.

Wright estimated that Californians spend at least $500 million annually on sports betting even though it is not legal in the state.

He won his colleagues' support after noting the overturning the federal prohibition would be only the first of multiple steps that would be needed to allow sports betting in California.

"Then we will come back and fight it out here as to whether or not we actually pass a statute to engage in it," he said.

-- Patrick McGreevy

New bill would legalize Internet poker

State Sen. Rod Wright (D-Inglewood) has introduced legislation to make California the first state to legalize Internet poker, proposing that firms bid for the right to operate three state-sanctioned games.     

Wright’s bill would require the firms to share at least 20% of their gross revenue with the state, potentially bringing tens of millions of dollars into state coffers.

However, SB 1485 is expected to face opposition from several Indian tribes that operate casinos in California and who have argued in recent months that Internet poker would be a violation of exclusive gambling pacts they have with the state.

Wright estimates that more than 1.5-million Californians wager on 600 overseas gambling websites, which are not subject to regulation by any government in the United States.

"As such, neither federal nor California laws provide any consumer protections for California players," Wright’s bill says. "California players assume all risks, any negative social or financial impacts are borne by the citizens of California, and the revenues generated from online poker are being realized by offshore operators and not providing any benefits to the citizens of California."

Under Wright’s Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2010, the state Department of Justice would request competing firms to submit proposals for five-year contracts to run intrastate Internet games available only to Californians.

The idea of legalizing Internet poker was broached more than a year ago with Wright, who chairs the senate Governmental Organization Committee, by a consortium that included the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Commerce Casino.

Wright was elected in 2008 with major help from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians Native American Rights Fund, which spent $50,000 on independent expenditures, including television ads, to support Wright and defeat opposing candidate Mervyn Dymally in the election for the 25th Senate District seat.

 The measure said it was needed "to protect the millions of Californians who gamble online, allow state law enforcement to ensure consumer protection, and to keep the revenues generated from Internet poker in California."

Wright estimates a licensing fee could bring the state up to $9 million, and the revenue sharing agreement could yield the state as much as $1 billion.

"People are already playing," he said, "and we currently get nothing.''

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento