While many states continue to drag their feet regarding the issue of online gaming and poker regulation for its citizens, there’s a different story for an Indian tribe in Oklahoma, which has recently been licensed for full online casino and poker operations on an international basis.
Last Friday, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma received their online gaming license from the hub of online gaming, the Isle of Man. Ioway Internet Gaming Enterprise Limited will be licensed to operate a full online gaming operation, although the tribe is only looking at an online poker room to get things started. The location of the enterprise will be in the States of America on the tribal land of the Iowa Tribe in Perkins, OK, something that cannot be touched by federal law enforcement.
Iowa Tribe Chairman Bobby Walkup was glad to finally have the process of receiving the international license behind the tribe. “The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is proud to be the first Native American tribe to secure an international online gaming license,” Walkup stated during the announcement of the licensing. “The process has taken longer than we may have envisioned when we began this journey but, because we are a Native American tribe and held to higher legal, regulatory and gaming standards, we had to ensure that we met all those standards.”
The federal government tried on several occasions to thwart the efforts of Walkup and the Iowa Tribe. Under arbitration it was determined in November 2015 that the Iowa Tribe was within their tribal rights under federal law to offer internet gaming. Those games were to be offered on an international basis; in no place were U. S. players, even if they were on the tribal grounds of the Iowa, allowed to play on what would be an international platform. That arbitration decision was upheld in a federal court in April 2016, but that was just the start of the process.
Although the tribe would introduce a website, PokerTribe.com, in May 2016 as a bookmark for their operations, Iowa tribal leaders still had to find a licensing platform for their international efforts. Over the next year, the Iowa Tribe personnel went through the process of licensing with the Isle of Man, recognized as one of the most stringent online gaming licensing bodies in the industry. That licensing process was completed recently and the Iowa Tribe say they will apply for more licenses in other jurisdictions soon.
What impact the new Iowa online poker site may have on the industry is unknown. The online poker market is dominated by the behemoth PokerStars, which averages 10,000 cash game players over a 24-hour period. This is vastly ahead of the second-place online poker room in the industry, 888Poker, which can only account for slightly more than a tenth (1500 average over a 24-hour span) of the total of PokerStars. The numbers get worse as you look down the PokerScout rankings as partypoker (1350/day), France’s fenced Winamax operation (1150/day) and the U. S. facing Bodog (1000/day, estimated because Bodog does not allow reporting to PokerScout).
If the Iowa Tribe is going to be successful in this endeavor, they will have to demonstrate that they can provide as good or better options for the online game than what exist with the current crop. How far are the Iowa Tribe elders going to go with promotions, bonus offerings and other accoutrements that online players have come to enjoy? Will they offer a full slate of games and stakes with their operations? Will there be any ties with the major live tournament operations such as the World Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker or other minor North American or international poker tours? At this point, PokerTribe.com has nothing at their website other than the ability to sign up to receive information as to their opening, so the questions will continue to flow.
The Iowa Tribe has not set a firm date for launching their new international online poker operation, but they do have some experience in the gaming business. The 800-member tribe operates two casinos in Oklahoma – the Cimarron Casino in Perkins and the Ioway Casino Resort in Chandler – so adding an online operation shouldn’t be a stretch for the tribe. By the end of 2017 (targeted by the tribe), the Iowa Tribe will join The Stars Group and 888 Holdings on the international online poker scene.
