California took one step forward and one step back in the field of Internet gambling. A bill to legalize online poker was scratched from yesterday’s legislative agenda. If it makes you feel any better, the opposition 
of six major California tribes probably doomed the legislation from the outset. The bill was favored by PokerStars, whom the tribes want to see excluded from the Golden State under a “bad actor” clause. This is such a hot-button issue that it has doomed every previous attempt to legitimize online gambling in California, with no resolution in sight.
Elsewhere in the state house, a bill advanced out of an Assembly committee that would legalize daily fantasy sports — provided that DFS operators are licensed and pay a yearly fee to be regulated. (You were expecting otherwise?) Both DFS sites and winning players would be taxed, and site operators will be responsible for age verification. It’s not a painless victory for DFS but it puts it on a path to legitimacy in one of America’s biggest markets — 15% of the total, $370 million DFS industry.
Among the backers of the bill were the Los Angeles Clippers, as well as Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Philip Anschutz. The legislation passed 17-1, with the lone dissenter objecting because it broke with 80-plus years of California tradition of expanding gambling through popular vote. California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion head Fred Jones also balked, saying, “We take a principled stance against any expansion of gambling. There are plenty of venues already, and we have a huge issue of problem and pathological gamblers.” To hear people like him tell it, we’re none of us to be trusted with our money and have to be saved from ourselves.
* “T-Mobile Arena.” Get used to saying it because it’s to T-Mobile that the naming rights to the new $375 million MGM Resorts International/Anschutz Entertainment Group arena have been sold. Incidentally, MGM and AEG aren’t getting enough credit to show that an arena can be built strictly with private-sector funds, with no grubbing for a public subsidy. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Alan Snel, the wireless operator “plans to activate its naming rights deal with special VIP and ticket deals for its growing number of customers.”
T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Sherrard hailed both the arena and Las Vegas as “unique.” We know that the naming rights went for less than $6 million (the going rate at the Staples Center) but other details were not forthcoming. He downplayed the importance of a mooted NHL franchise, calling it “icing on the cake.” The T-Mobile Arena, replete with charging stations, already has an impressive list of inaugural talent lined up, an even a Sam Nazarian nightclub within the arena … now if one can just find a parking spot.
* Given Jaleo‘s reliance on wood-burning stoves, this was bound to happen. A good thing that there’s a fire station practically on The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas‘ doorstep.
* The ink was barely dry on reports of Johnny Manziel‘s Planet Hollywood escapades when he found a way to get himself back into the headlines — and again not in a good way.
