A Native American tribe announced Wednesday that it has launched a part of its long-anticipated online casino.

The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma said that the “first phase” of its platform, which contains peer-to-peer poker, bingo and pull-tabs, is now available to U.S. residents (except Oklahoma) and in international markets. The games are free-play, however the Iowa Tribe plans to eventually roll out a real-money site, which might come once August.

The games come via PokerTribe.com

“The second phase will introduce more games and real-money play for international markets,” the tribe said in an announcement. In other words, no U.S. players for real money.

Only three U.S. states—Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware—have approved intra-state online casino gambling for state-approved companies, though Nevada and Delaware have formed a partnership to pool online poker liquidity across state lines.

The tribe, which has around 800 members, has two brick-and-mortar casinos located within Oklahoma—the Cimarron Casino in Perkins and the Ioway Casino Resort in Chandler.

An arbitrator’s ruling in November said the poker room wouldn’t violate its gaming compact with Oklahoma, however the tribe needed a U.S. District Court Judge in Oklahoma City to certify the ruling.

The certification was successful, which finally gave the tribe the fairway light.

Online gaming software developer Universal Entertainment Group worked with the tribe for the poker room. The tribe added within the press release that “phase three” will allow for the web casino to be available on international flights and cruises. That would happen next year.

Two other tribes in Oklahoma—the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes—had planned to launch pokertribes.com, but those efforts resulted in 2014 when the government objected. Universal Entertainment Group was also the tech partner for that venture.

Also in 2014, California’s Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel was eyeing a poker room before the state sued it. The Golden State continues to be engaged on a bill to permit tribes to run online poker businesses.

California is the nation’s number 1. tribal gambling market with roughly $7.3 billion in gaming revenue. California and Oklahoma, the highest two states, generated nearly 40 percent of $28.9 billion in gaming revenue at Indian gaming facilities in 2014.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]