American Indian Tribes Expected to Offer Online Gambling
January 2, 2014
Online gambling has expanded into the United States with Nevada,
New Jersey and Delaware offering either online poker or casino games
or both. New Jersey is already expecting to collect $300 million
to $750 million annually from legal online gaming. That type of
money is not going unnoticed to American Indian tribes who currently
have 460 casinos in 28 states. American Indian tribes don’t
have online gambling but that is expected to change.
Many of the 240 Indian tribes in the United States are getting
ready to expand into online gambling. The first of the tribes getting
into the fray is the Alturas Indian Rancheria Tribe in California.
They were expecting to have their site live beginning in January.
The Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma are going with a site
that will only allow gamblers from outside the United States. Other
tribes were getting ready in case their states allow online gambling
in the coming year.
People will be following what happens in California because the
Alturas Indian Rancheria Tribe is going to allow players from anywhere
in the U.S. to play at their site. They are getting around the U.S.
regulations by using “proxy play” which has the system
connecting wagers to servers located on Indian lands which means
it is legal.
Because the issue of online gambling is so divisive in the United
States, many Indian tribes have mixed feelings on the issue. They
see online gambling as a natural extension but they worry that online
betting will take away business from their land-based casinos.
