June 05, 2013

Indian Country Online 2013

Here's where I was Monday and Tuesday:

Online Poker Discussed at California Tribal Conference

By CharlesA tribal conference was held the past two days in California that centered on issues pertaining to tribal interests in the legalization of online poker.

Indian Country Online: The 2013 Congress touched upon many topics that are crucial to California tribes and the prospects of expanding their current online gaming operations to include Internet poker. The conference was co-presented by Pechanga.net and the Spectrum Gaming Group at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.

Much of the discussion focused on whether state or federal legislation would be more beneficial to tribal interests. Some tribes are said to prefer an intrastate model that would keep the nation’s most populous state from forming compacts with other states. Other tribes believe that a federal scheme may prove more worthwhile in the long run.

Most tribal groups seemed to be in agreement that previous federal bills that have been drafted have not done well in fully representing the interests of tribes. This is an important matter of concern, as it may cause California to opt out of any federal online poker legislation that finds approval in the future. Naturally, the rest of the country would love to include California and its more than 38 million residents in an interstate poker model to increase liquidity and profits.
Comment:  My pal Victor organized and oversaw this conference, which took place June 3-4. I attended as an employee of Pechanga.Net.

I didn't get to see much of the actual conference. I was tasked to man our booth and update the website during the day. But the conference was an unqualified success according to all reports.

Some photos of the conference:

Indian Country Online: The 2013 Congress

For more on gaming conferences, see NIGA 2013 (Day 3) and NIGA 2013 (Day 2).



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