Surprising or not, the California-based Indian tribe casinos appear to be serious pretenders for gaining popularity throughout the United States. It has been announced recently that the authorities of North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians are willing to start building procedures and establish another casino venue in the Golden State.
Now, another prominent gambling provider released information about a new, promising partnership, believed to put the beginning of a new era in the development of the Indian tribe casinos not only in California but in all the other states.
Yesterday, the authorities of San Manuel Band of Mission Indians officially announced that they will join forces with Morongo Band of Mission Indians and three card clubs and they will sign a contract with Amaya Gaming – the company that manages PokerStars. The efforts of the partners will be mainly focused on revealing the potential of the poker game in the state of California and eventually convincing the authorities that legalizing the online poker activities would be a wise decision that will bring many benefits.
Amaya Gaming inked an agreement with Morongo seven months ago and the partnership gave a green light to another thirteen tribes, which settled down around the idea of proposing changes in the local rules and regulations that concern the participation of online poker platforms, including PokerStars, in such kind of activities. Currently, the partnership between Amaya Gaming and the Indian casinos is said to be incompatible with the rules, established eight years ago.
According to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act none of the gambling providers, available on the regulated gambling market of California, is allowed to promote the online poker legislation. The representatives of the tribes disapproved of the presence of such passages in the laws. The problems, raised by the tribes, halted the legislation procedure and no further actions have been taken since August.
Lynn Valbuena, a representative of San Manuel, commented that they are glad to be part of such a powerful coalition. The spokesperson of Morongo added that the fact that the tribes are united and support each other as well as the cause they fight for, means the successful outcome is guaranteed.
However, the venture of the tribes and PokerStars met fierce opposition. The chairman of another Indian tribe casino commented that he is absolutely against the suggestion for allowing PokerStars sign such kind of contracts. He also added that despite his expectations, Amaya Gaming hasn’t done anything praiseworthy and capable of changing his standpoint so far.
The California authorities are believed to discuss the poker legislation procedure in January but even if the bill passes, it is not expected to become officially valid before the end of 2015. Lou Correa, the Senator of the Golden State, who is one of the proponents of the online poker legislation, is going to retire soon, which means that the battle between the opponents and supporters of the legislation will be fierce and the worst of all is that its outcome can hardly be predicted.
