The last couple of months there has been considerable amount of publicity as number of states contemplate the idea of legalizing online poker in the US and other online gambling activities. One of the concerns of the gambling companies is if the United States approves a state run online poker network, would there be a strong base of players who would sign up for such an operation.
While this is debated amidst each state’s government and discussed amongst online gambling companies, the Native American tribes in the nation are looking to join forces to take advantage of every opportunity that might come their way. The tribes are currently contemplating joining forces and bringing all their resources together, so that they can form an online network that can offer full time online poker, blackjack, slots and other popular online games.
Ever since President Reagan signed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) in 1988, Native American have focused on the casino industry and the numbers show that they have done incredibly well since then. Stats reveal that the gaming revenue from Native American owned and managed casinos have grown considerably and in 2011, there were close to 240 tribes operating 460 gambling operations that brought in revenue in excess of $27 billion each year.
One of these casinos, is the Northern Bear Casino which became the nation’s first ever casino to provide real-money gambling in 2012. The casino’s CEO had said
I’ll be operating under the same inherent, treaty, constitutional and sovereign rights as when I opened the first Indian casino in Canada on February 26, 1993. Our forefathers traded globally 100-plus years ago and entrepreneurship has been in our DNA for 10,000-plus years. This is what November 6, 2012, is going to stand for.
One thing is certain is that the Native Americans tribes realize the enormous market potential that is available to them and plan to collaborate to take full advantage of the nations online gambling market, which according to estimates could be in the range of $7.4 billion in casino, bingo and poker gross winnings before the end of 2018.
When asked about possible collaboration of Native American tribes, Jacob Coin who is the executive director of public affairs for the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians said
We’re starting to see more force behind the idea of developing Internet coalitions. It’s a positive development in that it means tribes are finally beginning to embrace the technology.
