Oklahoma authorizes real-money online casino for local tribes

The local Indian Tribes located in Oklahoma just got the green light to sell their online gaming brands internationally outside of the US. Since the federally recognized tribes are exempt from the 1961 wire act and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, they can now legally operate an online gaming company. The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes aboriginal groups are recognized on a federal level and the new law will enable them to offer Real money online gaming products internationally as signed to and agreed with this gaming accord. They were legally issued a Class 3 gambling license, which was signed on Friday at the Oklahoma State Capital. This is good news for the State of Oklahoma as they will get a 20% revenue share go directly to the state coffers. The online gaming web site will is called Pokertribes.com and is aiming to take full advantage of the $30 billion international online gaming market. And they do not need to be approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission, Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Department of Interior. All they have to do to operate the site internationally is adhere to international standards and the specific country's jurisdiction requirements while staying inside of the states and federal governments laws. They just needed the agreement signed by first-term Republican Governor Mary Fallin and they got it. To get the signature and allow them to do this, the tribes had to basically shut down the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes' online social gaming network including PokerTribes.com inside the United States and then in exchange for doing that, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are now authorized to reach out to the internationally community while staying in the US. A truly historic day for the tribes and a unique law that for the first time allows an Indian Tribe to market their online gaming brands to the internationally community as made in a statement by leading members: "The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes plan to bring this exciting new product to the international market in the very near future. We appreciate the support and cooperation of Governor Fallin of the state of Oklahoma and her staff in making this an historic day for the Cheyenne and Arapaho people. We look forward to working with the state in the future for the common good of our collective peoples."

At this point they cannot accept US players, which is obviously one of the main reasons this was signed. This also makes this kind of accord a first time event with the implementation of technical standards taking precedent and a deciding factor in the legislation. It won't stop there as they are looking forward to assisting other tribes in designing and moving forward with similar laws in each state where they are located. Other tribes might be signing the same accords soon in the states where they exist.

It really is a win-win agreement, whereas the tribes are allowed to expand their online gaming capabilities and brands, while providing much needed tax dollars to the states and revenue for tribes. Meanwhile, they are staying away from US players and taking advantage of international markets. Their work is just starting, as now they will have to apply for gaming licenses in each and every international market they enter. It really is just a first step, although being a major one since they will still be physically operating inside the US market. Now they will have to begin the process of setting up and applying for all the markets that will accept them internationally like Europe, Latin America and Asia. It will be a step-by-step process as each country like for example Europe has a set of laws and an application, requirement checking process.

Now that things are getting complicated in Europe with each country trying to customize how they interpret the European Gaming laws and the stringent process for each. The tribes surely have done their homework, built up some alliances and have the technology in place that will be accepted by the international gaming community.

At this point they should be talking to the bigger online gaming companies in the world that have licenses already whether its gaming software or support services. Either way they have made the first steps and now a US based Indian tribe entity will be out there competing with other international companies aiming to get their legal share of the ever-growing online gaming market.