While it is essentially illegal to play poker online in the United States—or at least pay for it thanks to the UIGEA—the state of California is attempting to do something it attempted last year, which is introduce online poker legislation.

A draft of the legislation, dated January 15 of this year, was obtained and made available and it is careful to distinguish between gambling between states and within a state. The first section of the draft outlines in detail, the differences between the two.

"Leading gaming consultants estimate that in 2008 United States citizens wagered more than ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000) online at off-shore, non-United States Internet gambling Web sites, that this amount is likely to grow steadily over the next decade and that every week more than 1,000,000 California citizens play poker on the Internet," reads Section 1 of the draft.

Rather than preventing Californians from playing online poker however, the bill seeks to provide a legal framework that would allow state residents to play.

"In order to protect the millions of Californians who play poker online, and allow state law enforcement to license, regulate internet poker sites that can ensure these consumer protections, it is in the best interest of the state and its citizens to authorize, implement and create a licensing and regulatory structure and system to allow licensed gambling establishments to operate government-regulated Internet poker wagering Web sites, offering similar poker games as permitted in licensed land-based card rooms, as a way of protecting Californians and ensuring that the poker games they are playing are honest and fair and providing the law enforcements and regulatory tools necessary to provide those protections."

But being a part of the United States, the last thing California wants to do is break any federal laws and the draft clearly says that it isn't violating the UIGEA.

"In 2006, Congress passed and the President signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-347); hereafter UIGEA. While UIGEA prohibits the use of banking instruments, such as credit cards, checks, or fund transfers for interstate Internet gambling, it has not eliminated illegal, unregulated Internet gambling, nor has it provided any increased protection for participants in the United States and California," the draft reads.

"Declaring that intrastate wagering permitted by individual states is not considered 'illegal internet gambling' under the terms of UIGEA, Congress included specific provisions and an exemption in UIGEA for individual states to permit Internet gambling within their own borders under certain conditions, including a means of reasonably insuring prevention of underage Internet gambling and verification of a player’s physical presence in the state."

The Association of Players, Casinos, and Webmasters has a PDF of the draft.