Tribes Set to Begin Offering Online Gambling, Some to Target Most US States
Some of the 240 Indian tribes in the U.S. are eager for a piece of that market, writes Pamela M. Prah of PewStates.org
The tribal online gambling efforts might exceed those at the state level where only three states have so far legalized Web gambling: Nevada, New Jersey and tiny Delaware.
Prah notes:
By the end of the year, an American Indian tribe in rural California, the Alturas Indian Rancheria Tribe, expects to launch the country’s first tribal online gambling effort. The Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma are pressing forward with a site that will target gamblers from outside the United States. And the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in the Midwest is actively preparing for the possibility that more states or the federal government will sanction online gambling sometime soon.
Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, the federal government must approve state-tribe compacts related to "Class III" gaming that includes slot machines and other electronic games of chance. However, "Class II" gaming such as what Oklahoma and California tribes are looking to launch, does not require such approval.
The Oklahoma Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes have struck an unusual arrangement with the state to offer online gambling to those individuals residing outside the US while the Alturas Indian Rancheria Tribe in Northern California is expected to be the first tribe to formally launch online gaming by the end of the year, partnering with a company called Great Luck. That company will offer a technology to any gamblers in the USA, who will have the ability to play on either their home computers or on mobile devices.
The technology will make sure the online player is of legal age and from a state that allows Class II gaming, which most do, Prah notes.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
