The real money portion of PokerTribe.com, a legal online poker site launched by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, has been delayed. The anticipated launch date for what is supposed to be the first licensed international online poker room based in the U.S. was yesterday, but according to a press release, it has been pushed back as the Tribe “continue(s) to coordinate with foreign governments on the worldwide launch.”
In September 2015, the Iowa Tribe, along with its poker client developer, Universal Entertainment Group (UEG), was dead-set on launching a real money online poker site, but the state of Oklahoma’s Gambling Compliance Unit believed such a venture was illegal. The case went to an independent arbitrator, Charles Chapel, who, to the surprise of many, ruled in favor of the Iowas.
“The use of the Internet,” Chapel said, “is merely using technology to play covered 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 compact and all its terms shall remain in force.”
Both the state and the federal government abided by Chapel’s decision, so the Iowa Tribe and UEG went forward with their plans.
Earlier this year, PokerTribe.com launched play money gambling. This was not a brand new thing for UEG, as it had previously with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes on a gaming website called – get this – PokerTribes.com. That fell apart, though, as the Tribes eventually called it quits. Now the site, for the most part, is back minus the “s” and with a new tribal partner.
In Monday’s press release, the Iowa Tribe said that it and UEG “are working to finalize the international country by country gaming licensees and international merchant processing banking. Banking partners will include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and more, plus our European banking partners.”
“We have completed each phase thoroughly and precisely. The final phase is the most important for a successful launch with the real money play, which is why we are rescheduling our launch date,” said the Iowa Tribe’s Chairman Bobby Walkup in the press release.
But a successful launch, whenever it may be, is likely to be a problem. UEG has estimated that the site’s online poker room could generate as much as $132 million in revenues by 2018, but it would be a miracle if that actually happened. Real money play will be open to players outside of Oklahoma in jurisdictions where such online gambling is currently legal. In the United States, there are only three states – Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada – where online gambling is explicitly legal and it is only intrastate online poker that is legal in those states. Only Nevada and Delaware have an interstate agreement and that is only with each other, not other states. Thus, nobody in the U.S. could play on PokerTribe.com.
That leaves international players, of which there are many. Realistically, though, who from other countries would want to venture onto the site when there are already so many other established options out there, such as PokerStars, 888poker, the iPoker Network, and more? There is just no reason for anyone to try out the site.
In the meantime, PokerTribe.com is going to push back its real money launch date so it can make sure all of its ducks are in a row. But it probably won’t matter.
