California took a large step toward banning online sweepstakes gaming Monday night when the state Senate unanimously passed AB 831 by a 36-0 vote with four abstentions.
The bill now returns to the lower chamber for concurrence since Assemblyperson Antonio Valencia’s bill was a “gut-and-amend” of a previous bill filed. The anti-sweeps legislation navigated three Senate committees and moved back to second reading last week after Valencia added late amendments to AB 831 to protect non-gaming operators.
The legislative session ends Friday, so it is expected the Assembly will take up the bill in quick fashion. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has not offered any indication whether he would sign the bill into law or veto it.
