Californian Tribe Cites Sovereign Rights And Opens Online Poker Room

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Tuesday, July 15th, 2014 | Written by Stephen Smith

While the state of California debates whether or not to regulate online poker, The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel has decided to plough on ahead and open its play money online poker site PrivateTable.com, with a promise to introduce real money games soon. The move also represents the first time a tribe has cited its sovereign rights in order to enter the igaming market. As a press release stated following the announcement:

“In offering online gaming through Santa Ysabel Interactive, the Tribe is exerting its sovereign right under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to regulate and conduct Class II gaming from the tribe’s reservation. Class II gaming, as defined by IGRA, includes poker and bingo, but does not include slot-based games or house-banked games, such as blackjack. House-banked games and slot machines are defined as Class III games, and can only be offered in a tribal casino upon agreement with the state through a Tribal-State Gaming Compact. Santa Ysabel has had such a compact with the state since 2005, but has no plans to offer Class III gaming through its interactive website.”

Tribe still supports state legislation

In 2003, the Santa Ysabel tribe negotiated a Tribal-State gaming compact with California and subsequently ran the Santa Ysabel Casino from their tribal reservation. In 2012, the Tribe declared bankruptcy with $50 million in debts on its casino operation, but at the time tribal chairman Virgil Perez said he would be exploring other business ideas, including ‘gaming on a limited scale.’

Despite stating its support for online poker State legislation, the Tribe said in the absence of regulation it had now decided to rely on tribal sovereignty and provisions stemming from the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to launch its foray into real-money igaming. It was also keen to emphasize that the Santa Ysabel Gaming Commission’s regulatory structure was stricter than the requirements proposed in California’s ipoker bills currently under consideration in the California Assembly and Senate.

Real money gaming as soon as today

The surprising move was first reported by Marco Valerio on his bog agentmarco.com, who said he learned the news after attorney Martin Owens, who provided legal opinion for The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel, handed him the press release. Furthermore, Owens told Valerio the already running free-play poker website could be live for real-money gaming as soon as today (Monday, July 14).

PrivateTable.com site

PrivateTable.com uses the same software as the Winning Poker Network (WPN), whose clients include Americas Cardroom, Black Chip Poker and True Poker. The software is generally considered to be clean, fast, and in line with the industry standard, and the site is planning on offering Texas Hold´em, Omaha and Stud Poker cash games to California residents over the age of eighteen, using mobile phone tri-angulation to ensure players are physical located within The Golden State.

Currently, players are able to register an account and play free poker games, but as of yet no online deposits options are available, although poker players can apparently make deposits and withdrawals at the Tribe’s Smoke Shop. When real money gambling does launch it is expected to be supported via the Finpay (Financial Payment Network) e-wallet.

Significance of move

A significant aspect of the move is that the Santa Ysabel Tribe will become the first interest to launch real online gaming within the USA’s wealthiest and most populated state, affording it a head start on other would be competitors. All the while, Californian residents may benefit from having a local, trustworthy place to gamble.

The move could also have far reaching consequences if PrivateTable.com proves a success, and other tribes in California decide to join and form an online tribal poker network. This could also spark similar moves across the USA as tribes decide to launch internet poker website of their own citing their sovereign rights.

Likely to provoke reaction from gambling interests

If PrivateTable.com does eventually launch real money online poker, however, the Tribe is also likely to face a legal challenge from state and federal regulators, as well as from the numerous Californian tribes who have been preparing “legal” online poker legislation over the past months.

One similar situation involved Oklahoma’s Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, which eventually decided to ditch its plan to launch PokerTribes.com online gambling site, after the Oklahoma Department of Interior annuled an earlier mandate by the administration of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.