Poker pro Phil Hellmuth believes that online poker will again be legal in California and the United States as a whole. This is what he said while doing his AMA session on Reddit.
Basically, AMA or /r/IamA, to be more precise, is a sub-reddit of the popular news, entertainment, and social network that gives users the opportunity to interview popular and not so popular people on their opinions about different topics.
The popular poker player was invited to do his first-ever AMA session as part of Poker Central’s celebrations for its official launch. The world’s first 24/7 poker-oriented television channel is scheduled to go live on October 1.
Having won more than $19 million in live tournament earnings and record fourteen WSOP gold bracelets, Hellmuth is definitely a person who knows the game well and who can give an adequate opinion about its current state as well as its future. The poker pro started playing more than 30 years ago and has witnessed the ups and downs of poker in the States and in the world, in general.
Answering a question from a Reddit user, Hellmuth said that the legalization of online poker in the US is imminent. The only thing that still remains uncertain is when exactly this is going to happen. According to the professional poker player there is only one person that has been preventing online poker from being legalized and his name is Sheldon Adelson. Hellmuth pointed out that the casino mogul annually spends more than $100 million to fund key political figures and lobby for the prohibition of the popular game’s online version.
Yet, the player expressed confidence that online poker will eventually return to the States and this is likely to happen soon. He also said that he and his fellow players and gambling experts believe that it is a good idea for the legalization of the game to start from California and to gradually spread across the nation. Currently, Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey are the only states that allow people to play online.
During this year’s legislative session, California legislators widely discussed the potential legalization of online poker within the state’s borders. However, the months-long discussions did not have a positive outcome. The involved parties, with local tribal groups, gambling venues, online poker giant Amaya Gaming Group being among those, did not reach any consensus on the matter before the legislative session’s end. The California Legislature adjourned on September 11.
Although it is quite clear that poker will not be legalized in California this year, Hellmuth expressed certainty that this will happen in the near future. The poker pro also said he believes that this will result in the next bigger poker boom in the States. According to him, the legalization of online poker there will result in much more people playing than now.
Hellmuth pointed to France and Italy where the introduction of the online version of the game indeed led to some sort of a poker boom with ten times more players exercising their right to play online that it had initially been expected.
The player will be answering questions on Reddit through September 20.
