The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma has wasted no time in exploiting a US District Court’s green light for its online poker plans (see previous reports), launching the free-to-play Pokertribe.com site this week from servers on tribal land and powered by Universal Entertainment Group.
The free-play site is just the first phase of a plan to launch real-money online poker for players outside the United States – possibly in August this year – followed next year by a project to offer online poker on international airline flights and cruise ships.
“The second phase will introduce more games and real-money play for international markets,” the tribe said in a press release Wednesday.
The launch follows a positive arbitration ruling on the tribe’s compact with the state of Oklahoma last November, an indication from the state government that it would no longer fight the issue, and the final green light from a US District Court Judge (see previous reports)
There has been no evidence of a federal government intervention as happened back in 2014 when the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes tried to launch a similar project, again powered by Universal Entertainment Group.
The Californian Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel also tried to initiate an online poker project in 2014 but abandoned the enterprise when the state government objected and filed litigation.