Organizations like the PPA, the Poker Players Alliance, are staffed by individuals with the interests of America’s poker grinders at heart. John Pappas is the Executive Director of the PPA, and he was recently quoted after conversations with several US state legislators held in New York that he believes that by “the end of January, middle of February in 2014 in California” that state will have reviewed, voted on and passed legislation legalizing Internet poker. In the past Pappas has been both optimistic and pessimistic concerning different pieces of legislation which offered legal web poker play at the federal or state level in the United States.

But it seems this time he may actually be onto something. With Pennsylvania and New York pushing very hard for the passage of Internet poker legislation, and several other states considering it as well, it is extremely important for a state with the potential player pool the size of California to get on board the growing US Internet poker bandwagon sooner rather than later. And with three major pieces of legislation that face the California Capitol currently, the climate may never have been better for web poker passage in that state. Two different proposals from Native American Indian tribal coalitions are on the table, as is a state bill which has undergone revisions in an attempt to make it more attractive to California state legislators.

And since both New Jersey and next-door neighbor Nevada both currently have legislation in place that would allow California to partner up with those states and pool their Internet poker players, California’s potentially vast player pool could grow instantly larger from day one. Why does Pappas believe that the new year will quickly deliver legal Internet poker in the Golden State? He pointed to several conversations he had with multiple state legislators recently that lead him to believe the timing has never been better in California and other states for legal Internet poker passage.

Without going into details he said he was very confident that some deal will be in place to deliver California poker grinders Internet poker access in early January, and California Senator Roderick Wright agrees. Wright is the author of State Bill (SB) 51, which he has revised more than once in the hopes of garnering more support from both Democrats and Republicans in California. Many believe that particular bill has the best chance of passage, but the two above mentioned Indian tribal coalition proposals also have substantial support. The powerful Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in California has teamed up with a group of several Indian tribes and has drafted legislation which proposes legal Internet poker in California.

Another such proposal has no less than 15 California Indian tribes gathered in a coalition, and that legislation is listed as SB 678, authored by Senator Lou Correa. All three of these legislative packages have substantial support and backers in California, and with what is undoubtedly going to be a multibillion dollar industry on the table in a state which is desperate for financial relief at both the local and state levels, legal Internet poker is coming to California. It is just a matter of when. Golden State poker grinders, get ready to belly up to the virtual felt in California, as 2014 prepares to offer residents and travelers in that state legal online poker play, and a potentially profitable new year.