World Poker Fund Holdings announced it will acquire a 49 percent stake in Universal Entertainment Group, the online gaming subsidiary of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, including trademarks, online gaming platforms and UEG source codes, plus casino licensing and consulting agreements. WPFH is an online and event-based social gaming platform backed by rapper Soulja Boy.
UEG is the leading developer of proprietary online casino free-play and real-money-play software and intellectual property for the tribe’s .com and .gov hosted poker sites, including InSkyCasino.com and PokerTribe.com.
Financial details were not released. However, in 2013 the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma paid UEG a reported $9.4 million to set up an online poker room called PokerTribes.com. The federal Department of Indian Affairs did not allow the action to move forward.
But on April 18, the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma ruled the tribe could operate its websites on tribal land and offer them in the U.S. and internationally in countries where online poker is legal. WPFH officials said the tribe will launch its online real-money casino offering and begin to generate revenue within the next 90 days, making it the first Indian tribe allowed to run a legal iGaming operation in the U.S.
The company also hired former World Series of Poker Main Event winner Jamie Gold as advisor and ambassador.
