The Iipay Nation of Santa
Ysabel in California started planning for an online poker site a year ago, an attorney who works for the tribe said.
The tribe launched PrivateTable.Com last week. The site appears to accept money but only from patrons based in California.
The announcement came after the tribe closed the Santa Ysabel Casino in February. the facility failed to meet expectations and owes millions of dollars to its
creditors, including the Yavapai-Apache Nation of
Arizona.
Attorney Martin Owens. however, said the tribe started working on the site long before that. "They approached me about this 10-to-12 months ago," he told Casino City Times.
Federal law bars Internet
gaming unless it is conducted under a Class III gaming compact or under
state law. Neither condition appears to be met in California but Owens believes the tribe can legally accept and process bets on the site.
Get the Story:
Attorney: California real-money online poker site legal
(Casino City Times 7/23)
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on Internet poker game (7/16)
Iipay Nation goes online after
shuttering casino on reservation (7/15)