The sole tribal gambling groups showing any real interest in Universal Entertainment Group’s online gambling proposal Poker Tribes.com have backed away from the project amid internal power struggles and financial questions regarding the $9.4 million already paid over to UEG.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma have decided to forego participation in the free-to-play online poker venture that had ambitions to morph into real-money action at some future stage (see previous reports).
At one point – as recently as last year – things looked rosy as the tribes signed a controversial compact with the Oklahoma state government that would have permitted online gambling…but only by punters located outside the United States.
That all appears to have flat-lined after federal officials objected to the proposal, prompting the tribes to initiate litigation against the feds last December.
At least one of the factions now vying for power in the tribal hierarchy no longer wishes to proceed with the legal action.
Part of the problem within the tribes is the internecine struggle for power between two groups, a situation exacerbated by the fact that the Bureau of Indian Affairs hasn’t taken sides in separate electoral bids engineered by both factions and claiming legitimacy.
In the midst of the political boxing, one faction has called for independent investigators to look into the $9.4 million paid over to UEG for the PokerTribes project, a payment allegedly signed off by former governor Janice Prairie Chief-Boswell…now out of power.
What has emerged is that neither faction are enamoured of the PokerTribe project, so there at least appears to be some unanimity on that issue.