Residents of the state of California can now gamble for real money online. Before those of you out west shed tears of joy, though, this is not exactly the online poker explosion of which you have been dreaming. The Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel has launched Desert Rose Bingo, a real money internet bingo site open to Californians who are at least 18-years old.
The California state legislature has not all of a sudden legalized and regulated internet gaming – lately lawmakers have been too busy campaigning – but the Santa Ysabel tribe has been planning this for a while. In fact, they have intended to launch online poker, but that still may take a couple more weeks. Back in August, the tribe announced that it would be taking advantage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), which it purports allows the tribe to offer both poker and bingo, even without explicit laws on the books in California. On the Santa Ysabel Gaming Commission website, the tribe states in no uncertain terms:
In offering online gaming through Santa Ysabel Interactive, the Tribe is exerting its sovereign right under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to regulate and conduct Class II gaming from the tribe’s reservation. Class II gaming, as defined by IGRA, includes poker and bingo, but does not include slot-based games or house-banked games, such as blackjack. House-banked games and slot machines are defined as Class III games, and can only be offered in a tribal casino upon agreement with the state through a Tribal-State Gaming Compact. Santa Ysabel has had such a compact with the state since 2005, but has no plans to offer Class III gaming through its interactive website.
It does have a poker site, PrivateTable.com, up and running, but it only offers play money poker right now.
In order to make sure that all bingo games on Desert Rose Bingo are technically played on tribal lands, the site uses a little sleight of hand. In a press release, the tribe explains:
This new licensing venture has created the nation’s first web browser-based i-Gaming platform. The Great Luck/Iipay Nation agreement allows registered users to engage a “proxy” to play Class II bingo games under the sovereign jurisdiction of federally recognized Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel. After the completion of a comprehensive registration and approval process, real time live bingo game action is played by a “proxy” of the web-browser enabled device user who has accessed the tribe’s Class II bingo gaming system. At no time is live bingo game action performed by the user. This ensures that all game play takes place on Tribal lands, under the jurisdiction of the Tribal government and is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
It is kind of strange, but in essence, the site allows players from around California to login and remotely control a virtual representation of themselves to play bingo. It sounds like a loophole technicality, and it probably is, but the Santa Ysabel tribe strongly believes that by using proxies located on tribal territory and not out in California proper, it has found a legal way to let people play real money bingo.
“The Iipay Nation is excited to be the first Tribal government in America to deploy Great Luck’s VPNAPS technology,” said David Chelette, President of Santa Ysabel Interactive, in a press release. “As the owner-operator, this licensing agreement not only underscores the sovereignty of Santa Ysabel to offer Class II bingo, it also represents the use of innovative technology to reach users. The Desert Rose Bingo enterprise will offer this small rural community and the Iipay Nation a positive economic impact.”