Harrah’s Entertainment on Tuesday denied charges by a New Jersey state senator that the company’s opposition to intrastate Internet gambling is an effort to gain a larger share of the online wagering market.

As the legislative session resumes later today in California, a move by one of California’s leading casino gambling tribes and poker clubs to legalise internet poker in the state is rekindling the intense tribe-versus-tribe politics that drove costly ballot fights in recent years.

If tribal leaders reach a consensus on internet gambling next month, their agreement may help determine whether Congress acts this year to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

While discussions on the federal internet gambling proposals are under way, several states are also currently looking to legalize internet gambling at a state level. In the meantime, a six month delay in the implementation of the UIGEA regulations has been announced by the US Treasury.

A California Senate committee chairman is preparing a bill to regulate and tax Internet poker within the state's borders, according to one of the senator's top aides.

Newly-inaugurated Governor Chris Christie will focus his gaming policy on reinvigorating Atlantic City’s sagging land-based market after dismissing tentative moves to authorise intrastate online gambling in New Jersey as a ‘waste of money’.

In a surprising vote on Thursday, members of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) decided overwhelmingly against taking a unified position on Internet gambling.

While calling for concerted opposition to federal legislation on internet gambling, California’s tribal gaming leaders are only inching towards a state-level strategy of their own to exploit the revenue potential of online gambling.

While obstacles confronting the new intrastate Internet poker bill in California are daunting, the state’s soaring budget deficit is making even some critics hesitate before dismissing the bill’s chances of becoming law this year.

A top US legal expert has predicted that the online gambling bills introduced by House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank and Senator Robert Menendez have virtually no chance of becoming law.