Oklahoma Tribe Secures Isle of Man Gaming License for PokerTribe.com

Native American Indian tribes operate legal gambling facilities in 28 states, but one tribe has gone a step further by securing a license to offer online poker and casino games to rest of world players from its tribal land in Perkins, Oklahoma.

That license was issued in the online gaming regulation hotspot of the Isle of Man to the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, who have spent the last couple of years waging legal battles in an effort to allow PokerTribe.com to accept real money bets from punters outside of the US. That battle has apparently been won, as the tribe announced that licensing has been granted and a handful of conditions have been met.

“The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is proud to be the first Native American tribe to secure an international online gaming license,” stated tribe chairman Bobby Walkup in a press release.

The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission issued the license earlier this month to Ioway Internet Gaming Enterprise Limited, a company founded jointly by the tribe and its software developer, Universal Entertainment Group. A real money launch date for PokerTribe.com is expected sometime this fall after additional details such as payment processing and transferring the gaming assets to "an internationally-known brand" are ironed out.

Indian Gaming

According to a National Indian Gaming Commission fact sheet published last year, the US government recognizes 567 Native American tribes. Of those, 238 tribes run 474 legal gaming operations throughout 28 states.

Mind you, those 474 gaming facilities are not all huge casinos like Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun. As per Indian Country Today, "many tribal facilities are just trailers with bingo."

Indian gaming falls under the authority of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which separates gaming into three distinct classes depending on the games offered and whether the tribe(s) and state have forged a compact.

It was initially the contention of the Oklahoma Gambling Compliance Unit that the efforts of the Iowa tribe to operate their website from tribal land would violate that compact, but an arbitrator ruled otherwise, setting the stage for the upcoming real money launch of PokerTribe.com.

"Because we are a Native American tribe and held to higher gaming legal and regulatory standards, we had to ensure that we met all these standards,” Walkup added, with regard to the two-year delay caused by legal wrangling.

It bears repeating that PokerTribe.com for real money will not be available to players within the US, including Oklahoma. The site is currently operational for free play online poker, with the website proudly proclaiming that "real money play coming soon!"