California card clubs and tribal casinos, long bitter political rivals, are working together in a concerted, behind-the-scenes drive to legalize Internet poker in the Golden State.

The effort to create an online California "Internet poker consortium" is being led by a wealthy Riverside County tribe, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and by card clubs including the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles County.

They are dispatching lobbyists to the capital and privately courting other tribes and poker rooms to build political momentum for a gambling enterprise run by a consortium of tribes and card rooms. The state's 60 card clubs and more than 100 federally recognized Indian tribes would be eligible to participate.

Though it still lacks an author to carry the bill, the Morongo tribe is pitching a plan to get an Internet poker bill passed after lawmakers return from their summer recess next Monday. Representatives from dozens of tribal groups are invited to hear the proposal Thursday at a closed-door meeting at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento.

Morongo is billing its effort as a means to generate new tax revenue for California and allow tribes and card clubs to tap into a vast offshore Internet poker industry that draws an estimated $4 billion in what are now illegal bets from U.S. residents.

In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. It sought to stem the reach of overseas gambling sites by blocking U.S. bank and credit card payments for Internet betting. Some legal scholars say the federal law has loopholes that could allow states to permit Internet gambling.

The California effort may get a boost – and legal clarification – from federal legislation introduced Aug. 6 by Sen. Robert Menendez. The New Jersey Democrat's bill would legalize online poker and "games of skill."

The bill, following similar legislation by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would give states and Indian tribes the authority to permit – or disallow – Internet poker for their residents.

"You've got a huge amount of gambling going on on the Internet right now that is a large measure unregulated," George Forman, an attorney for the Morongo tribe, said in an interview. "Huge amounts of money are being wagered. The state is not getting any of that. Money is going offshore.

"I think it is fair to say there is an interest on some people's part that this activity can and should be regulated to protect consumers and produce a revenue source for the states," Forman added.

The online poker push is stirring friction with some other California tribal groups, which claim a poker cooperative with card clubs could upset California tribes' exclusive rights to casino gambling and violate federal standards against off-reservation gambling.

"They're trying to convince people that this is a good idea and we should move forward when the Legislature comes back," said Alison Harvey, executive director of the California Tribal Business Alliance, which recently heard the pitch from Morongo tribal representatives. "I just think there's serious potential consequences of this that haven't been thought through."

In 2008, then-Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, introduced legislation asking the California Gambling Control Commission to study Internet gambling and how to regulate it if it became legal. The bill died.

But I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and a consultant on gambling issues, said an economic downturn that has cut into tribal casino earnings and state fiscal coffers could soften the political resistance.

"Any time Internet gambling would get through the Legislature is right now because the state is desperate for money," Rose said.

Morongo officials declined to discuss specifics of their plan publicly. But in private talks with other gambling interests, they have said a California poker consortium could net $450 million a year.

Harvey of the Tribal Business Alliance said Morongo is suggesting a 10 percent licensing fee to be paid to the state. Proposed bill language being circulated leaves the state's share blank.

 The Tribal Business Alliance represents tribes including the United Auburn Indian Community, operator of the Thunder Valley Casino in Placer County. Last year, United Auburn and the Pala tribe of San Diego County waged an unsuccessful ballot fight to defeat initiatives granting Morongo and three other tribes permission to add up to 17,000 slot machines.

In another ballot war five years ago, poker clubs and horse-racing interests sought to require casino tribes to turn over one-quarter of slot machine earnings to state and local programs – or allow five tracks and 11 card rooms to add slot machines.

The 2004 measure, facing tribal opposition, lost overwhelmingly. But the lure of online poker profits now has past antagonists on the same side.

Patrick Dorinson, spokesman for the Morongo tribe, said tribes and card clubs have made "extensive outreach to members and leadership" of the Legislature to advocate for online poker.

Meanwhile, Morongo privately has pledged to advance one-half of an estimated $10 million that tribes and card clubs would raise to set up the poker network as a limited liability corporation.

A proposal being circulated among gambling interests calls for a management structure with two representatives from card clubs and two from tribes, including a permanent representative from the Morongo band.

The plan was discussed at a recent gathering of the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations. The group includes Morongo and powerful casino tribes including the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs and the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in Temecula.

Morongo also circulated an e-mail inviting dozens of tribes for a conference call in which Forman and tribal councilman Damon Sandoval were to outline the "Morongo Initiative – Tribal Intrastate Poker Consortium."

Those invited included the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and the Enterprise Rancheria, which have been frustrated in efforts to win state gambling agreements to open casinos in Amador and Yuba counties.

In pushing to legalize online games on the federal level, Menendez – the New Jersey senator – said he wanted to bring "Internet poker out of the shadows and into the light of law."

But legal counsel Fred Jones said the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion would fight efforts to create a "wild, wild West" of online poker playing in California households.

"The idea that the state may sanction this is making our state dependent on gambling revenues," Jones said. "You're not going to be able to gamble yourself to prosperity."

 


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Call The Bee's Peter Hecht, (916) 326-5539.