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According to a report from MercuryNews.com, California State Senator Darrell Steinberg is officially abandoning his efforts to make online poker legal in California.

In a written statement, the Sacramento democrat explained that there simply too many “significant, unresolved issues” currently blocking the way for legalized real money online poker in California. Among the most pressing issues are tribal exclusivity, sovereign immunity, which game types would receive authorization, eligibility determinations for gambling site licenses, and even potential issues with the U.S. constitution.

With so many factors at play, along with the fact that the idea of legalizing online poker is still not universally popular among legislators despite obvious budget woes, it’s easy to see why Steinberg would give up, at least for now. The current legislative year is scheduled to end on September 9, and Steinberg said it would be “unwise” to push an unrefined proposal through before it’s truly ready.

Fortunately, it looks like Steinberg already has plans to revamp California online poker legislation in time for the Senate Governmental Organization Committee meeting, which will occur in January.

Meanwhile in Washington D.C., the Washington Post reports that Phil Hellmuth isn’t overly excited about the strides made towards legalizing online poker, even if they’re more progressed than in California. Hellmuth is worried about a few things in particular: first, he says that the relatively low population of D.C. (about 600k) would make it difficult for a state-contained online poker room to amass a large enough player base to facilitate all-hours games. Second, he thinks to lower-stakes games won’t appeal to pro players.

Buddy Roogow, the director of the D.C. Lottery, has a different take. He says that there’s nothing wrong with appealing to a more casual and recreational market, at least for now. However, it’s easy to agree with Hellmuth’s view (for once!), as he believes that the currently-slated online poker model in D.C. will fail to achieve the state’s ultimate goal: more tax revenue.