Indian tribes, racetrack owners, card room operators – and the army of lobbyists they've hired to help them make more money – will keep pressure on lawmakers in 2012 to legalize Internet gambling in California.

They'll attend campaign fundraisers. They'll testify in support of legislation. They'll make the case that taxes on Internet gambling could help solve the state's budget deficit.

And at every hearing on the matter there will be the lonely voice of the Rev. James Butler saying: Don't do it.

In the three years the debate over Internet gambling has simmered in the Capitol, the focus has been on which games should be allowed and who should be able to profit. Butler's organization has been the only one arguing that another form of legal gambling is not a good idea.

"I think we can still defeat it at the legislative level once I have clarity on what the bill is and what it's going to say," said Butler, a Methodist pastor and executive director of the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.

"But it's going to be a challenge, because what was being encouraged was to get all the gambling interests lined up on the same side."

Butler spent most of his career as a congregational pastor, leading Methodist churches in Lompoc and Santa Paula. He said he saw how gambling can affect families as Indian tribes near his church began opening casinos and more and more people turned to him for help coping with devastating debt.

In 2005, he moved to Sacramento to take on a ministry of advocacy, leading faith-based efforts to lobby against gambling, alcohol and drug abuse.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and his staff members have been meeting with tribal lobbyists, casino owners and others in the gambling business to hash out a compromise bill for lawmakers to consider in 2012.

"The goal remains the same," Steinberg said. "To put forward a proposal early in the year that represents as much consensus as possible, with a laser focus on the state's interest, which is tax revenue for education, higher education and other public services."

Butler hasn't been invited to the talks, which Steinberg described as "very quiet but very productive." Butler's not surprised he's being left out.

"We're of the position that Internet gambling is, at its basic core, a bad idea. Consequently, if they were to invite us into the room to say what could we possibly do to generate your support, it's not going to be there," Butler said.

He has been busy preparing a plan to fight the Internet gambling legislation when it comes up in 2012. Butler's strategy will be to suggest more than a dozen regulations, including:

• People who receive public assistance – welfare, unemployment, food stamps, subsidized housing or medical care – or are behind in child support payments should not be permitted to gamble online.

• People should have to get permission from their spouse, who is legally responsible for any debt incurred, before being allowed to gamble online.

• Internet gamblers should not be able to file for personal bankruptcy.

"Maybe the state would say if it takes that much effort to make this good, then maybe it's not possible and we shouldn't do it altogether," Butler said. "That's going to be our focus."

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Call Laurel Rosenhall, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1083. Follow her on Twitter @LaurelRosenhall.

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