For the addicted, there's nothing like a good game of online poker - just ask Andra Verstraete.

"I play Texas hold 'em and it's really a game of skill," said Verstraete, who lives in Sherman Oaks and works in Glendale.

In the world of online poker, Verstraete goes by the handle "Audigirl." She's been playing online for five years.

"It's deeply psychological and it doesn't matter what you're holding in your hand," she said. "It's about outsmarting your opponent - that's what I like about it because I'm really competitive."

Others have described the game as "a rush." And it's a rush lawmakers and industry officials hope to regulate - and cash in on.

Casinos throughout California, including the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in Highland, hope to gain a strong foothold in the lucrative online poker industry in the event that online play for money is legalized and regulated.
The multibillion-dollar industry made headlines last week when federal authorities busted the three largest online poker websites in the U.S. with charges of bank fraud and illegal gambling against 11 people.

They were accused of manipulating banks to process billions of dollars in illegal revenue.

The companies, all based overseas, were identified as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. The indictment sought $3 billion in money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the defendants.

"This really underscores  the need for state legislation and player protection," said Ryan Hightower, a spokesman for COPA, the California Online Poker Association.
The shutdown of the three offshore Internet poker operations caught scores of players off guard, many of whom have winnings cached online. But the government has taken swift action to ensure they will be able to get their money back.

On Wednesday the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that the U.S. government has entered into domain-name use agreements with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

The agreement, they said, "will facilitate the return of money so that players can register their refund requests directly with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker."
"No individual player accounts were ever frozen or restrained, and each implicated poker company has at all times been free to reimburse any player's deposited funds," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharra said in a statement.
COPA, a coalition of 29 Indian tribes and 14 card clubs, is dedi

cated to establishing a safe and secure environment for online poker in California.
There is an urgency," Hightower said. "Right now, as these indictments show, there's not a whole lot of regulation of these sites ... it provides an opportunity for fraud and ID theft."

Lawmakers and casinos generally support the idea of regulated online poker as both a safe form of home entertainment and a source of revenue and jobs.
And the economic potential is significant.
A study released by COPA says the installation of an online poker system would generate as much as $1 billion in California state revenues over the next 10 years, also creating 1,100 new jobs.

That's a pretty powerful incentive for a state facing a $26 billion budget deficit. And it's certainly gotten the attention of state Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, author of Senate Bill 40, a measure that's supported by COPA.
Also known as the California First: The State Funding, Job Creation and Online Gaming Accountability Act, the measure would establish a framework to authorize Internet poker in California.

Revenue would be generated through assessed operator fees, registration fees and through a license fee equal to 10 percent of the money collected by the online poker website from players.

The bill would initially allow the California Department of Justice to issue up to three licenses to own and operate Internet poker websites. Depending on the success of those, the state Legislature could authorize the department to license up to two more operators.

"There are no silver bullets, but Senate Bill 40 is a great opportunity to immediately generate more revenue and put Californians back to work," Correa said. "More importantly, it keeps California revenue and jobs here instead of going out-of-state or offshore."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has circulated a similar bill on Capitol Hill that aims to legalize online poker.

So how popular is online poker? One need only look at the stats.
Hightower said about 2 million Californians play online poker each week, wagering an estimated $13 billion a year.

Jacob Coin, a tribal government representative from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which owns and operates the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in Highland, said the casino supports S.B. 40.

"That's why we're involved with COPA, to create a regulated environment for the playing of intra-state online poker," he said.
Verstraete, who has participated in online poker tournaments that sometime run for 12 hours, said the most she's won playing online was about $1,500. Her biggest loss? About $600.

"I typically play low-stakes games where my ratio of winning is much larger than what I invest," she explained. "But in some of these tournaments you might be up against 1,000 other people."
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