California Online Poker: Aqua Caliente Tribe Ponders
Written by Roger S | Friday, February 12th, 2010
For the Agua Caliente Indians of California, the question of whether to legalize instrastate poker in the state is neither black nor white. In the meantime, the tribe has decided to take a ‘neutral’ stance while it examines the pros and cons of introducing this form of entertainment.
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians differs from the Moronga Tribe which has a powerful pro online poker agenda and is willing to go all out to get poker accepted by the Senate. On the other hand, the tribe has not taken a strong anti-poker stance as has the constellation of tribes that form the California Tribal Business Alliance, including the Pechange Band of Luiseno Indians.
While the tribe did not occupy a seat on the panel that testified before the Senate Committee this past Tuesday, it nevertheless showed sufficient interest in the unfolding Californian online poker saga to release a statement on the issue.
“We haven’t seen a product emerge yet that we believe is either ready to embrace or oppose,” wrote tribal chairman Richard Milanovich to Senator Roderick Wright who chaired the special panel.
As such, the Agua Caliente stated that they were taking a neutral stance to watch how events unfolded.
The tribe did not oppose the idea of online poker outright and stated that it was “intrigued” with the concept. It was interested, as such, to see how a legal online poker platform would be structured, how the state intends to regulate it and how the state plans to capture a good part of the market that presently sees over one million Californians wager on offshore poker sites.
Milanovich summed up the tribe’s current stance by saying: “Quite honestly, we find ourselves with many unanswered questions at the foundational base level.”
The Agua Caliente operate a number of land based casinos in the state, including the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage and the Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs.
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
