The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma recently approved the 800-member Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma’s plan to launch an online poker site, pokertribe.com. Judge David L Russell stated he found “no genuine issues of material fact that preclude summary judgment in the tribe’s favor.” The tribe, which operates three Oklahoma casinos, expects to launch the site later this year to reach players in regulated U.S. markets and international markets. Upon its launch, pokertribe.com will be the only operator offering online poker to the international market from inside the U.S.
Last September the tribe filed with the state’s Gaming Compliance Unit its proposal to operate an international online poker site. State officials suggested the plan would violate the tribe’s gaming compact and called in an arbiter, Charles Chapel, a retired Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals judge. 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.”
The Iowa tribe’s partner in the venture will be Florida-based software provider Universal Entertainment Group. The company approached the tribe after similar deals with the two other Oklahoma tribes did not work out.
Following the federal court’s recent ruling, other Oklahoma tribes may now pursue online gambling sites.
