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430 000 petition signatures sought by Christmas
From San Diego comes the story of an online poker player, Anthony Sandstrom aka "Tuff Fish" who has decided to do something about the legal restrictions on his favourite pastime and that great American game, poker.
This week the California secretary of state's office cleared Sandstrom to circulate petitions putting his proposed initiative on a statewide ballot, where voters could call for the creation of a state-owned Internet poker gambling agency, reports MediaNews from Sacramento. The private initiative, which will have to present state government with 430 000 signatures by Christmas 2007 to have any hope of success, faces challenges from anti-online gambling opponents but Sandstrom is confident he can mobilise public opinion for his goals.
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Under Sandstrom's proposal, the site would collect a rake from poker games, 45 percent of which would go to the teachers' pensions in the state with an additional 45 percent going to veterans' homes, mental health programs for military personal and to purchase hearing aids and artificial limbs for veterans. The remaining 10 percent would fund gambling addiction programs.
The system would be similar to Sweden's Svenska Spel, which raked $700 million in profits last year.
If successful a ballot could push the state to establish a state-owned Internet poker site within 150 days of the proposal's adoption.
Although he doubted that Sandstrom's initiative was the right vehicle, legal expert I. Nelson Rose, a professor and attorney at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa said: "It's silly for the state not to get into the business. Billions of dollars are being spent on the game here, and the state isn't getting one penny."
California is the world's online poker capital, analysts said. The government is missing out by not legalizing, regulating and taxing it.
The proposal would allow Indian casinos and other gambling establishments to set up revenue-sharing deals, which would serve as an incentive to wealthy tribes to gather voter signatures needed to put the measure on the February ballot.
"We will take a look at the initiative and discuss it," said Garry South, a consultant to the California Tribal Business Alliance, made up of some of the tribes who own the largest casinos.
Among those flatly opposed are card rooms in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area, anti-gambling-expansion activists and educators, who fear that success for Sandstrom may result in diversion and loss of state lottery funds.
The disarmingly frank Sandstrom acknowledges his initiative isn't aimed at solving major social problems.
"I am just a guy who wants to play poker at home when I don't feel like making an hour drive to a card room or casino," Sandstrom said on his Web site.
"I am going to make a mighty effort to make safe, legal, and accessible online poker possible."
The poker crusader hints at tax benefits for the state when he says that the proposal could provide money for the repair of potholes on city roads.
The wild card in the game is the Internet, opines MediaNews. By harnessing the reach of the Internet through his website, message boards and blogs Sandstrom is making his petition available as a download for supporters trying to collect signatures via the Internet.
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