[polldaddy poll=8260327]California has long been targeted as a key state for the online poker market but many Native American casinos have been reluctant to accept it as part of the gambling industry because of a belief that online poker might cannibalize brick-and-mortar casino revenue. As such, many states are watching to see if or rather when the Golden State will join the regulated market.
However, the launch of Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel’s PrivateTable.com, the first online poker room exclusive to residents of California, has marked a significant shift towards embracing online poker and has received scrutiny for the past few weeks.
The site offers only play-money poker to date but Chairman of the Santa Ysabel Gaming Commission Dave Vialpando announced that the site will begin dealing real-money poker sometime between 26th and 28th of August, which is why we decide to ask our readers, “If PrivateTable.com takes real money bets in California in August will they still take them in September?”
Leading the vote, 67 percent of our readers voted Yes and 33 percent said No.
According to John Mehaffey of CaliforniaOnlinePoker.com, representative from PrivateTable said that the launch date has been pushed back to next week.
And since there are some debates as to whether PrivateTable’s real-money offering is legally permissible, the next question is will they be able to launch next week or anytime within September? Could be as Vialpando insists that PrivateTable falls under the category of Class II gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and thus the tribe’s right to offer such activity from its reservation is not prohibited by any statute.
FinPay will process payments for PrivateTable and now allows players to create an account.
On next week’s poll, MGM and AEG are teaming up to build a new state-of-the-art arena in Las Vegas that can accommodate any professional sports, which is why we decide to ask our readers, “Which major North American Sports League will be the first with a team in Las Vegas?” Check back next week to see what our readers think.
