A California legislator wants to officially make online poker legal–at least in his state.

According to media reports, State Assembly member Lloyd Levine, a Democrat from Van Nuys, California, has introduced Assembly Bill 2026, which would order a study on the Federal law that restricted Internet poker and would explore whether a California-only online poker service might be legal.

The U.S. Congress previously passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which banned U.S. credit card companies from allowing their card-holders to fund online gambling with credit cards. The law effectively shut down much of the online gambling in the U.S.

“Our understanding of the law is that so long as the player and server (hosting the online game) are in California, it would be legal,” said Levine. “But that’s what we are trying to find out.”

The bill is backed by a lobby group called the Poker Players of America (PPOA), not to be confused with the lobby group the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), media reports said.

According to the PPOA website, the PPOA describes itself as,=A0″Americans joining together to fight for their right to play the All-American game of poker!” =9D The website also says: “Founded and guided by experienced political professionals who also play poker, PPOA has been created to provide information, mobilization and coordination of legislative/political action programs necessary to make the voices of America’s millions of poker players heard.”

If legal online poker does come to the Golden State, Levine said the State of California would run it and profit from it.

“It would be regulated,”=9D he said. “We don’t know what the state’s piece will be, but it will be a regulated entity.” =9D He also pointed out that a legal and regulated online poker room based in California will ensure consumer protection for Internet gamblers.

“If you’re gambling in California with one of these offshore sites, and they just decide not to pay you, you’re out of luck,” Levine said. “If you play legally, then there is recourse.”=9D

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.) =A0