Tribal Gaming Chairman Calls on California State to Legalize Gambling Online

Online gambling, or the lack thereof, has the tribal commission restless in California.

Tribal Commission calls for Online Gambling in Cali

Dave Vialpando, Chairman of the Santa Ysabel Tribal Gaming Commission, has called on the California government to legalize online gaming to pave the way for growth of the state's gambling market.

GiGse Should Get Out the Message

Ahead of his speaking engagement next month at the 2015 Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo (GiGse) in San Francisco's Hyatt, Vialpando characterized online gaming as a “natural evolution” of gaming whose continued denial would be “counterproductive to consumer demand.”

Vialpando will expand on his views in an Open Space discussion on "Regulation, Policy & Public Awareness" at the high profile GiGse as part of a new meeting and networking format.

This stands to be a significant boost for acceptance of online gambling, and is a reminder that online gambling does not just help those who provide it, but it helps the struggling gambling industry overall. In a time in which states need all the revenue boosts they can get, a popular and taxable new system such as online gambling seems like a welcome band-aid.

Identifying Remaining Obstacles

Vialpando echoes the sentiments of all online and land-based casinos interested in expanding into the online sector. At this point, outdated legislative barriers still stand as obstacles to full integration of online gambling, which looks capable of benefiting players, casinos, and the government in one full deregulation swoop. This state of California, of course, is capable of delivering said swoop with one voting session.

Interest groups benefiting from outdated gambling laws also play a role behind the scenes, because those restrictive laws limit market competition as well.

Next Year Almost Here

Vialpando doesn't hold much hope for enactment of online gambling legislation this year, but a good showing at GiGse can certainly set the wheels in motion for full online deregulation and the opening of the market in one of America's largest and most autonomous state governments by next year.