Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Gets Green Light For Real-money iPoker Venture

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Thursday, May 12th, 2016 | Written by Stephen Smith

Europe and other parts of the world have taken to online gambling at a faster pace than the U.S. In Europe, for instance, it is legal to visit online poker and casino sites in order to wager for money, while in the U.S. it is currently only legal to do so in three states out of 50, namely Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey. At this point in time, only international companies are operating iGaming sites in foreign markets but that may be about to change, thanks to a recent court ruling that found in favor of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.

Details on the Court Ruling

The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma has been caught up in a legal battle that would allow them to operate online gambling sites from their tribal lands in Oklahoma. The state initially fought the move, saying that it wasn’t covered by the Oklahoma Tribal-State Gaming Compact. Countering that online gambling was just an extension of their already existing casino operations, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma took the matter to an arbiter, Charles Chapel, a retired judge who had sat on the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals, who then ruled in their favor. As Chapel concluded:

“The use of the internet is merely using technology to play covered, i.e., Class II games, as a way to increase tribal revenues. It does not extend or restrict the scope of the games and does not amend the compact in any way.”

Then, the tribe took their case to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma for a final ruling on the case back in January. That ruling was passed down in late April, and went the same way that the arbiter did–that offering iGaming services would not in any way violate the Oklahoma Tribal-State Gaming Compact. As Judge David L Russell subsequently stated, there appears to be “no genuine issues of material fact that preclude summary judgment in the tribe’s favor.”

Russell further pointed out that “the tribe had met its burden of showing there was no material fact that required judgment as a matter of law.”

Who Can Play?

Now that an official federal ruling has been issued, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is ready to move forward with their website pokertribe.com. The question is ‘where will the site be available?’ Initially, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is planning on operating in Europe where gambling online is already legal. There are also plans to launch an in-flight version of the software in January 2017, which would allow travelers aboard some airlines to play for real-money. In addition, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma intends to one day offer their software platform on cruise ships.

The Oklahoma Tribal-State Gaming Compact does permit the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma to make their website available in any U.S. state were online gambling is permitted. Nevertheless, the laws in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey only let operators with an in-state presence operate iGaming sites at this time.

Challenges Ahead

While the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma has the green light to move ahead with pokertribe.com, industry insiders caution that success won’t be automatic for the tribe. One problem facing the site is that the software platform developed by Universal Entertainment Group (UEA) has a rather dated look that may not instill player confidence. Combine that with the fact that competition for players abroad is already high, and it becomes clear that the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is facing an uphill battle to make any meaningful revenue, and even operate an online poker site in the black in foreign markets. Nevertheless, the tribe is moving ahead while the world of online poker looks on waiting to see what comes of the move.

Some Further Details

The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma consisting of 800 enrolled tribal members currently runs three casinos in Oklahoma. The company which the tribe intends to partner with, Universal Entertainment Group, previously had struck a similar arrangement with two other Oklahoma tribes, namely the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, but the deal failed to get off the ground after the US Interior Department protested the deal. Even the two tribes spending more than $9 million in legal challenges failed to reverse the decision, and so they subsequently abandoned the project. If this time around things develop positively, then other tribes located within The Hawkeye State will also be entitled to follow suit.

In the meantime, Universal Entertainment Group manager, Isaias Almira, expressed his enthusiasm for the potential project, and as he commented to NewsOK in January: “If the judge agrees to the thing, it could be launched within a matter of weeks. I and our entire team have been working on this for many years.”